Chapter 371: Are You Sure You're Fast?
The building was six stories tall, its exterior walls made of dark red bricks, with some bricks already loose and falling off, revealing the gray cement inside.
Most of the windows were boarded up, with only a few letting out a faint light.
That light came from candles and flashlights, not electric lights, because this building had its power cut off three years ago.
The door was locked, but Alice didn't need a key.
She placed her hand on the door lock, exerting slight force with her Vibranium fingers, and the metal inside the lock core was poked open like butter beneath her fingertips.
She pushed the door open and walked in.
The foyer was very dark, and the air was filled with a musty smell and some indescribable stench of decay.
Scattered on the ground were waste paper, empty wine bottles, and syringe needles.
This place used to be a gathering place for drug addicts and vagrants, but it seemed to have been cleaned up recently.
Because the garbage was covered with a thin layer of dust, indicating that no one had been here for at least a month.
Alice's footsteps echoed in the empty foyer.
She didn't need lights; her eyes could see images in the dark clearer than an owl.
Her ears were able to capture any subtle sounds upstairs, the sound of breathing, the sound of heartbeats, and the sound of current flowing in the wires.
There was no electricity in this building, so all she heard was the sound of the wind, the squeaking of mice, and——
A person's heartbeat.
On the fourth floor.
Very slow, very steady, about fifty beats per minute.
This was the heart rate of a well-trained person, not an ordinary person, but a warrior.
Maintaining a heart rate of fifty beats per minute in sleep indicated that this person's physical functions far exceeded ordinary people.
Skrulls.
Alice walked up the stairs, every step as light as a cat.
The stairs were made of wood, and some steps were already decayed, making a creaking sound when stepped on.
But Alice's weight combined with her control ability made every step of hers accurately land on the connection between the stairs and the wall.
That was the sturdiest part of the stairs and wouldn't make any sound.
She walked to the fourth floor and stood in front of a door.
The door was closed, but the material of the door panel was plywood, very thin, and there was a fist-sized hole in the middle.
Through the hole, she could see the situation in the room; a kerosene lamp was placed on the ground, and its dim yellow light illuminated a corner of the room.
A person was sitting in the corner, leaning against the wall, with eyes closed and breathing evenly.
It was him.
Alice did not break through the door.
She reached out her hand, her fingers passed through the hole in the door panel, and unlocked the door from the inside.
The door pushed open silently, and she walked in, stood in the center of the room, and looked at the Skrulls with closed eyes.
"I know you're awake." Alice said.
The Skrulls' eyes opened.
They were not human eyes. At the exact moment he opened them, his pupils were light green, vertical, looking like a reptile's eyes.
But the next second, those eyes turned dark brown, round, human, and completely identical to the White male he transformed into.
He stood up.
His movements were very slow, without any aggressive intent.
He sized up Alice, his gaze moving from her face to her body, and from her body to the light-blue glowing gem between her eyebrows.
"What are you?" The Skrulls asked.
His voice was calm, without fear, without anger, and even without surprise.
This was the calmness only possessed by someone who had seen too much of the world and experienced too many dangers.
"Someone here to ask you questions." Alice said.
"What if I refuse to answer?"
"Then you don't answer." Alice said, the glow of the gem between her eyebrows brightening slightly, "I'll look myself."
The Skrulls' pupils changed again, not turning green, but turning into a silver mirror-like color.
His skin began to change, turning from white to silver, from human skin to that mirror-like texture flowing with Universe energy.
The form of the Silver Surfer.
But this time, he became faster and more complete.
It was not the semi-finished transformation like before in Brooklyn, but a nearly perfect replica.
His body levitated, his feet about ten centimeters off the ground, and silver energy flowed across his body surface, emitting a low buzzing sound.
"You think you can defeat me?" The Skrulls' voice changed, no longer the voice of that White male.
Instead, it was a more hollow, echoing voice, like speaking in a huge cave.
"Do you know why I chose to transform into this form? Not because of its power, although its power is indeed very strong.
Instead, it's because of its speed. In this form, my movement speed can reach dozens of times the speed of sound."
Alice looked at him without any change in expression.
"Are you sure you're fast? Then try running." She sneered.
The Skrulls moved.
No, not moved, but disappeared.
His silver figure dragged an afterimage in the room, grazed past Alice's left side, and rushed toward the boarded-up window.
His plan was very simple: break through the window, fly into the sky, and escape at dozens of times the speed of sound.
No one could catch up to him, no one could stop him.
But his plan failed at the very first step.
Alice's hand grabbed his ankle.
The Skrulls' movement speed was indeed very fast, so fast that human vision could not capture it, but Alice was not human.
Her Vibranium body, her Artificial Intelligence - Aliceconsciousness, her brain computing speed.
All these added together allowed her to calculate his trajectory the exact moment the Skrulls initiated.
Extending her hand before he reached the window, grabbing him when he thought he had escaped.
The Skrulls were dragged back.
He fell to the ground, his silver body smashed through the floor, dropping from the fourth floor to the third floor.
Broken wood and dust poured down like a waterfall, and he landed on the ground of the third floor, smashing out a pit two meters in diameter.
But the form of the Silver Surfer made his body almost immune to physical damage, and he immediately bounced up from the pit, preparing to take off again.
Alice jumped down from the fourth floor.
She landed in front of him, her feet stepping on the ground, shaking the entire floor.
Her Vibranium body didn't make any cushioning movements, just dropped straight down like a meteorite falling from the sky.
The ground cracked into spiderweb-like fissures beneath her feet, but her knees didn't even bend.
"I said, I'm here to ask questions." Alice said calmly.
The Skrulls' silver eyes looked at her, and that hollow, echoing voice sounded again.
"What on earth are you?"
"What I am doesn't matter. What matters is that you've seen the Silver Surfer. Where did you see him?" Alice took a step forward.
The Skrulls' body swelled violently, changing from the form of the Silver Surfer to the form of Hulk.
Chapter 372: I Can Read Your Memory!
His skin turned from silver to dark green, his muscles swelled to a height of three meters, his arms were as thick as tree trunks, and his palms were as large as wok lids.
He let out a low roar, the sound waves shattering all the remaining surrounding glass and making the entire building tremble.
He smashed his fist toward Alice.
The force of that punch was enough to pierce a tank's armor.
Under the compression of the fist, the air emitted a cracking roar, and the Impact spread in all directions, shaking all the lime off the walls.
Alice did not dodge.
She reached out and caught that punch.
The moment the Vibranium palm collided with Hulk's fist, the resulting Impact was ten times more powerful than the roar of the Skrulls themselves.
The floor of the entire building exploded outward from the center, and the floor slabs of all six stories collapsed, with bricks, lumber, and dust pouring down like a waterfall into the Underground Room.
But Alice and the Skrulls did not fall; they hovered above the collapsed ruins.
A Vibranium body and a giant Hulk physique formed a bizarre scene amidst the dust-filled sky.
The Skrulls watched its fist being firmly grasped by that slender palm, and fear appeared in its green eyes for the first time.
It pulled its hand hard, but couldn't pull it away.
It pulled hard again, still unable to pull it away.
Alice's fingers locked onto its fist like five Vibranium steel bars, unable to break free no matter how much force it used.
Its Hulk form did not have infinite potential for strength growth, so this was already its ultimate strength.
It grew even more fearful, and right at this moment, Alicetightened her fingers.
The hardness of the Vibranium collided with Hulk's bones, producing a sharp, teeth-setting sound.
The Skrulls' fist began to deform under Alice's grip.
It wasn't that Hulk's body wasn't strong enough, but rather that the hardness of Vibranium far exceeded the limit of biological tissue.
Its metacarpal bones were shattering, its phalanges were bending, and its entire hand was squeezed into a deformed mass of flesh in Alice's palm.
The Skrulls let out a miserable scream.
Not Hulk's roar, but a real, pain-filled scream.
Its body began to collapse from the Hulk form, the green skin receded, and the swollen muscles shrank.
The three-meter-tall giant body shrank back to normal human size within a few seconds.
It knelt in the ruins, holding its already deformed right hand with its left hand, its face twisted with pain.
"I will ask one more time, where did you see the Silver Surfer?"
Alice squatted down, the light from the gem between her eyebrows illuminating the Skrulls' face covered in cold sweat.
The Skrulls gritted its teeth and did not answer.
Alice reached out and pressed it onto its forehead.
The Mind Stone lit up.
Not the faint golden pulsation from before, but a strong, dazzling white light that was almost blinding.
The light surged from the gem, followed Alice's fingers, entered the Skrulls' forehead, penetrated its skull, and penetrated deep into its brain.
The Skrulls' body twitched violently, its eyes rolled back, and its mouth opened but could not make any sound.
Its memory was being read—not questioned, not interrogated, but directly extracted.
Alice's consciousness invaded the Skrulls' nervous system through the Mind Stone.
Cutting open its conscious defense like a sharp scalpel, going straight to the deepest part of its memory.
Images flashed rapidly in Alice's consciousness.
The homeworld of the Skrulls, a burning World.
Flames and lava covered the surface, the atmosphere was torn apart, the oceans were evaporated, and billions of Skrulls screamed in despair.
Fleeing, the spaceship drifted in the Universe, millions of people crammed into a cabin with less than a tenth of its capacity.
Food and Water were consuming, diseases were spreading, and death was waiting in every corner.
Encountering star pirates—no, not pirates, but some kind of Raiders in the Universe.
They robbed most of the supplies on the Skrulls' spaceship, killed thousands of people, and then swaggered away.
Encountering a patrol team of the Kree; the Kree and the Skrulls were mortal enemies.
However, the Commander chose to turn a blind eye, not out of mercy, but because he felt they weren't worth wasting ammunition on.
A Planet.
A blue, living Planet covered by clouds.
The Skrulls' spaceship landed there, thinking they had found a new home.
But the native creatures on the Planet were more deadly than they imagined.
In three months, hundreds of thousands more died from unknown viruses and attacks by the Beast.
Then something silver like a surfboard gliding in the Universe.
Standing on it was a person, a completely silver person—that was precisely the Silver Surfer!
When the Skrulls first saw him, it was in the orbit of that blue Planet.
The Silver Surfer flew over from the depths of the Universe at an extremely fast speed, but when he passed near the Skrulls' spaceship, he stopped.
He looked at the Planet, seemed to be evaluating something, then shook his head, continued flying forward, and disappeared at the other end of the galaxy.
No dialogue, no contact, not even any form of communication.
The Skrulls only saw him from afar, for just a few seconds.
But those few seconds were enough for a Skrulls shape-shifter to remember every detail of him.
That Planet was not Earth.
The coordinates of that Planet—Alice saw them in the Skrulls' memory.
It was on a spiral arm of the Andromeda Galaxy, about 2.5 million light-years away from Earth.
The Silver Surfer's appearance there indicated that he was searching that galaxy for Planets suitable for Galactus to devour.
And Earth was not in that galaxy.
Alice let go of her hand.
The Skrulls collapsed in the ruins, panting heavily, cold sweat soaking all its clothes.
Its eyes returned to their normal color, the brown eyes of a human white male.
But there was no longer the calmness of before in those eyes, leaving only fear and bewilderment.
"You... What did you do to me?" Its voice was hoarse, as if someone was pinching its neck while speaking.
"Read your memory." Alice stood up and dusted the dust off her clothes.
The Skrulls looked at her, its lips trembling.
"You... Are you going to kill me?"
Alice glanced at it, and the light of the gem between her eyebrows dimmed, turning into a nearly invisible pale golden color.
"No, but I will erase part of your memory regarding your transformation ability."
Not all of it, just enough to make you unable to accurately replicate others' appearances anymore.
You can still transform, but you will never be able to turn into the Silver Surfer, Hulk, or Tony Stark anymore."
The Skrulls' face turned pale.
"You... You can't do this!"
Alice's hand pressed onto its forehead again.
The Mind Stone emitted a soft light.
The Skrulls' gaze became vacant, its body softened, and it collapsed into the ruins, falling into a deep coma.
Its breathing was still there, its heartbeat was still there, but those precise transformation templates in its memory, practiced countless times...
Were all wiped out by Alice, like pencil handwriting erased with an eraser, completely clean, leaving not a single trace.
Alice stood up and turned to walk toward the exit of the ruins.
Behind her, the Skrulls lay quietly among the broken bricks and dust, like a pile of discarded old clothes.
It wouldn't die, but it was like a porcupine with its quills pulled out, unable to harm anyone ever again.
Chapter 373: Extracting a New World - DC Universe, obtained one portion of Superman DNA!"
"Morgan Manor, study."
"The eastern sky was already turning pale, and the first ray of morning light filtered through the window onto the desk, dyeing the old oak tabletop a light gold."
"Loren sat in the high-backed chair, the tea in front of him had gone cold, but he did not touch that cup of tea; he was waiting."
"The door was pushed open."
"Alice walked in, dust stained her white sweater, and there were a few scratches on her black pants."
"But her expression remained calm, with no signs of fatigue or excitement."
""Master, found it," she said."
"Loren raised his head to look at her."
""Where was it seen?""
""In the Andromeda Galaxy, an unidentified blue Planet, about 2.5 million light-years away from Earth.""
"Alice walked to the desk and placed a data chip on the tabletop."
""There is a clear image in his memory, Silver Surfer flew past near a Skrulls spaceship, stayed for about three seconds, and then left.""
""There was no interaction, just passing by.""
""Did not discover Earth?""
""No," Alice said, "Silver Surfer's flight direction is away from the Milky Way Galaxy, he is moving towards the Virgo Cluster direction.""
""Calculated according to his speed and direction, he is at least 5 million light-years away from Earth, and getting farther and farther away.""
"Loren leaned against the back of the chair, the heavy look in his gray eyes slowly dissipated."
"He let out a breath of relief."
"Not that kind of relieved, exaggerated breath of relief, Loren was not that kind of person."
"His breath of relief was only reflected in his shoulders sinking slightly by less than one centimeter."
"The rhythm of his fingers tapping on the armrest changed from slow to steady, and that was all."
"But Alice saw it."
"She could always see things others could not see."
""Master, you do not need to worry about Galactus, at least in the foreseeable future, Earth is not on his route.""
""You are wrong, Silver Surfer's movement speed has never been calculated in light-years," Loren said."
"Alice tilted her head slightly, and the gemstone between her eyebrows flashed."
""Master, do you mean he will eventually discover our Earth, right?""
""Yes, it is just a matter of sooner or later.""
""Then if this is the case, we must make plans in advance, and we must have a response plan.""
""In front of a multiverse-level powerhouse like Galactus, powerful strength is the only response plan, everything else is just in vain.""
"Loren said very seriously, others did not know the horror of such an existence as Galactus, but he was very clear about it."
"In front of absolute strength, any fancy preparations are useless, the only plan is to rapidly enhance one's combat effectiveness."
"Although his current strength has reached the single Universe level, this is already very strong for ordinary powerhouses."
"But for a powerhouse of Galactus's level, it is still not enough; he must be stronger."
"He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the lawn and woods illuminated by the morning light outside the window."
"Morgan Manor appeared peaceful and beautiful in the morning light, and ivy cast mottled shadows on the stone wall."
"A few birds hopped around on the lawn, searching for breakfast bugs."
"This World is very beautiful."
"But he knew that on the scale of the Universe, beauty has always been temporary."
""I need to become stronger," Loren said, his voice very soft, like he was talking to himself."
"Alice walked to his side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him in front of the window."
""Master, do not worry, we will always stay by your side, even if it costs this life, I will protect you.""
"Hearing Alice's words, Loren smiled and hugged her into his arms, then kissed her on the face."
""Thank you, Alice, but I believe there won't be that day," Loren said full of confidence, looking at her quietly."
"The morning light fell on Alice's face, and her skin emitted a faint luster under the light."
"That was the color of Vibranium, the color of life, the color of a miracle he created with wisdom and painstaking effort."
"The Mind Stone between her eyebrows was also glowing, and the golden light was beating."
"Synchronized with the artificial intelligence consciousness of Artificial Intelligence - Alice, synchronized with her almost indestructible Vibranium body."
""You are so pretty, I want it a little again," Loren stroked Alice's pretty face and said."
"Hearing this, Alice's expression changed slightly, and she squatted down along his body."
"Loren immediately closed his eyes and began to enjoy, while his consciousness sank into the depths of the system."
"There, in that space that cannot be described with words, the system interface floated quietly."
"The numbers and text on the panel glowed in the dark, every single character looking like an inscription carved in the void."
"He opened his eyes and looked at that panel."
"[Host]: Loren Morgan
"[Current World]: Marvel Universe
"[Dimensional Worlds]: NieR: Automata, dragon ball, heavens lost property
"[Science and Technology]: General-Purpose Combat Robot, Anti-Gravity Drone, Android Technology, Destroyer Armor, Capsule Technology, Senzu Bean Manufacturing Technology, time machine manufacturing technology, gravity room, Artificial Angel Technology, etc.
"[system points]: 100
"One hundred system points."
"These are all the system points he currently owns, not much, but enough to extract a new technological World."
"The three Worlds he extracted before, NieR: Automata, dragon ball, heavens lost property, each gave him the power to change the World."
"General-Purpose Combat Robot, Android Technology, Capsule Technology, Senzu Bean, time machine, Artificial Angel... these were all obtained from those Worlds."
"And now, he needed to open a new World."
"Thinking of this, he immediately clicked on the button to extract a World."
"Suddenly, the system prompt box popped up."
"[Whether to consume 100 system points to extract a new technological World?]"
"[Yes / No]"
"Loren did not hesitate."
"He chose "Yes"."
"The system points changed from 100 to 0, and a beam of light exploded in the void of the system."
"Not ordinary white light, but a golden light like the Sun."
"The light gushed out from the depths of the system, filled the entire space, and then slowly condensed into the shape of a book."
"Not an ebook, not a data stream, but a book in the true physical sense."
"The pages were glowing, and on the cover was a man wearing red underwear; at the same time, the system's explanatory text had already appeared in his consciousness."
"[Congratulations to the host for spending 100 system points to extract the new technological World DC Universe]"
"[Due to hitting this World for the first time, obtain one Super Biological Weapon Technology Guide, and reward one portion of Superman DNA with weaknesses removed.]"
"[Note: This is the original DNA of Silver Age Clark Kent, possessing extremely violent energy.]"
"[Description: Can use Super Biological Weapon Technology to make it into Silver Superman serum.
"But Super Biological Weapon Technology cannot guarantee a hundred percent success; if used improperly, it will cause unimaginable consequences.
"For example, Doomsday unfortunately crafted in the DC Universe, becoming the doom of all things. Please use with caution!]"
Chapter 374: Crafting the Silver Superman Serum
DC Universe!!!
A look of excitement appeared on Loren's face.
The DC Universe, another multiverse on par with the Marvel Universe, possessed an equally vast worldview and an equally powerful power system.
Superman's Kryptonian physique, Batman's technological equipment, Wonder Woman's divine power, Green Lantern's power ring, and the Flash's Speed Force.
These were powers that existed within the DC Universe, and unlocking the DC Universe meant he had the opportunity to acquire these powers.
He didn't really care about the other powers, but Superman's power was an existence that could not be ignored.
Especially the Silver Age Superman, who was freakishly strong; that was undoubtedly a multiverse-level existence.
And now, right at the start, the system rewarded him with a Silver Age DNA, and it was even one with its weaknesses eliminated.
This also meant that he might be able to obtain all of the Silver Superman's power, or even stronger.
How could he not be excited by this?
In front of Loren was a thick, leather-covered book emitting a faint golden glow.
The cover prominently bore the four large characters of the DC Universe, with a photo of Superman as the background.
He turned to the first page: Super Biological Weapon Technology Guide.
This was a technology that fused biology and engineering together, not manufacturing machines, but manufacturing life.
Or rather, manufacturing life that could act as weapons.
Modifying organisms at the genetic level, endowing them with abilities that surpassed natural limits, and turning them into the most perfect combat machines.
And in this book, it recorded how to convert Superman's DNA into an injectable serum.
Transforming an ordinary person's body to the level of the Silver Age Superman.
The Silver Age Superman.
Loren knew what that meant.
In the settings of the DC Universe, Superman's power had gone through several different eras.
The Golden Age Superman was strong, but still within a relatively reasonable range.
He could lift cars, fly, and block bullets.
The Silver Age Superman was an existence of another level; he could pull Planets and fly at faster-than-light speeds.
He could travel through time and survive in the core of a star, and his power had virtually no upper limit.
And the system's reward was Superman DNA with its weaknesses eliminated.
No Kryptonite weakness, no magic vulnerability, no red Sun suppression.
Only pure power.
Rampant, almost uncontrollable power sufficient to tear Planets apart.
But the problem was how to safely inject this power into the human body.
The super biological weapon technology provided the theory and method, but it could not guarantee a hundred percent success rate.
The risk was huge, large enough to create a monster.
An uncontrollable monster like Doomsday, which only knew destruction and slaughter.
In the DC Universe, Doomsday was one of Superman's greatest threats.
It was a biological weapon, and the sole purpose of its creation was to kill Superman.
It possessed power as mighty as Superman's, and without Superman's moral constraints.
It was an existence of pure destruction.
Every death would cause it to resurrect and evolve the ability to counter the cause of death, making it even more impossible to annihilate.
If Loren's attempt went wrong, he might create the Doomsday of this Universe.
A Doomsday without the slightest weakness.
That would be the end of all things.
Loren closed the book and placed it on the desk.
He looked at the book emitting a golden glow, the light reflecting in his grey eyes like two small Suns.
"The risk is huge, but I still have to give it a try."
Loren lowered his head, and a trace of tenderness involuntarily welled up in his eyes as he looked at Alice.
"I need to become stronger." His voice was very calm, like stating a fact that did not need discussion.
"Not for Galactus, at least not now, but because in this Universe, there are too many things that are out of my control.
And I need to tightly grasp everything in my own hands; my destiny must be decided by me alone!"
The sunlight had completely risen, and the golden glow bathed the entire manor.
The dew on the lawn sparkled under the light, like tiny diamonds.
The distant river shimmered with silver ripples in the morning light, and a few white gulls hovered over the river surface.
"I can do more, I should do more.
But I am not strong enough, not lacking in power, but lacking in level.
My power is already at the peak on this Planet, but on the scale of the Universe, I am still not enough to look at.
A subordinate of Galactus can make me this nervous, then what if Galactus really comes?
What if the one who comes is not his subordinate, but himself?"
He turned around and looked at Alice.
"I need to turn into an existence at the level of the Silver Superman, or even exceed that level.
Because in this Universe, there are existences even more powerful than Galactus, and even more terrifying threats.
The Skrulls are just the beginning, not the end."
Alice was silent for a moment.
"Then Master, what are you going to do?"
"I need to study this technology guide first, understand every detail of it, and figure out every risk point of it.
The birth of Doomsday was not accidental; a fatal error occurred in a certain link, and I need to ensure that I won't make the same mistake."
He walked back to the desk, picked up the Super Biological Weapon Technology Guide, and then put it back into his system.
Inside his system were placed his most precious things: the blueprint of the time machine, the core code of the artificial Angel.
The records of the dragon ball summoning ceremony, and this book would become the most precious one among these precious items.
"Before that, I need you to do one thing." Loren turned around and looked at Alice.
"What thing?"
"Continue to secretly track the whereabouts of the Skrulls. That Skrull had its memory erased by you, but there are other Skrulls.
Their secret invasion plan will not stop because of one person's failure.
I need to know every move they make, every plan of theirs, and every hiding spot of theirs."
Alice nodded.
"I will."
Loren looked at her, with a warmth in his eyes like winter sunlight.
"You've worked hard," he said.
"Not hard at all; for Master, I am willing to do anything," she said.
"Therefore, I must reward you well!" Saying this, Lorenslowly hugged Alice from behind.
Alice gave a charming smile, her two hands resting on the windowsill.
Loren stood by the study window, looking at the increasingly bright sky outside while fiercely loving Alice in his own way.
A new day had begun, and new challenges were also waiting.
And he believed that he would definitely succeed!!!
Chapter 375: Technical Difficulties
The Underground Room of Morgan Manor was built by Loren after he crossed over.
Its entrance is hidden behind the bookshelf in the study, with a half-meter-thick lead door completely isolating the surface from the underground.
Before Loren crossed over to this World, this place was used by the previous Family Head to store red wine.
Later, Loren converted it into one of the most advanced private laboratories on Earth.
At this moment, the lights in the Underground Room were blindingly bright.
White fluorescent tubes were embedded in the ceiling, illuminating every corner without a single shadow.
The walls were made of silver-white alloy plates, and the floor was anti-static epoxy resin.
The air was filled with the smell of ozone and metal, which was a sign of high-energy equipment operating for a long time.
In the center of the laboratory was a huge console, its surface covered with holographic projection interfaces and physical equipment.
The Super Biological Weapon Technology Guide was spread out on a special stand, its golden glow appearing much softer under the white lights.
In the petri dish nearby, a few tubes of pale golden liquid flowed slowly in a constant temperature environment.
That was the research result of Loren this week, the first-generation prototype of the Silver Superman serum.
But those prototypes were all marked as "Unqualified" by him.
Loren stood in front of the console, his black eyes staring at a string of gene sequence data on the holographic projection.
His lab coat was stained with a few drops of unknown liquid, and the cuffs were frayed from long friction against the desk.
His dark brown hair hung messily across his forehead, as if it had not been combed for days.
His fingers swiped in the air, magnifying a certain segment of the gene sequence, disassembling it, and then recombining it.
One week.
For a full week, he had hardly left this Underground Room.
Tifa delivered three meals on time every day, placing them on the tray at the door.
He would walk over to take a few bites when the feeling of hunger became impossible to ignore; sometimes it was hot, and sometimes it was already cold.
Alice would occasionally come down, bringing the data and analysis reports he requested.
Then she stood quietly aside, watching him pacing back and forth in front of the holographic projection and talking to himself.
"The mitochondrial density of Kryptonian cells is three hundred times that of humans," Loren said to a blank wall, gesturing with his fingers in the air.
"This is not a problem in itself; the problem lies in the efficiency of energy conversion.
If the ratio of energy input and output is out of balance, the cells will overheat within a few seconds, leading to protein denaturation, which is cell death.
I need a buffer mechanism, an intermediate layer that can absorb excess energy when energy is overloaded and release reserve energy when energy is insufficient."
He turned around, walked to another holographic screen, and brought up his own human gene map.
"Human genes do not have this buffer mechanism, and we have not evolved the ability to handle this level of energy because our environment does not require it.
Kryptonians have evolved under the yellow Sun for millions of years, and every single cell of theirs is designed to absorb and transform solar radiation.
And yet I want a human to become like that from scratch; this is completely impossible."
He stopped, staring at the two DNA double helix structures on the screen.
One was human, and one was Kryptonian.
They were like two parallel rivers, each flowing in its own riverbed toward different directions.
What he needed to do was not to make them intersect—intersecting was easy, just mixing the two DNAs together would do.
But that would create a monster, a hybrid that was neither human nor Kryptonian, possessing the shortcomings of both rather than the advantages.
What he needed was fusion.
Not physical mixing, but chemical reaction.
It was not pouring Water into oil, but letting hydrogen and oxygen combine into a brand-new substance.
Human DNA and Kryptonian DNA needed to coexist, cooperate, and complement each other within a single cell.
Instead of repelling, attacking, and destroying each other.
The rejection reaction of gene fusion had always been the biggest problem.
He had thought that once he mastered cross-species gene fusion technology, he could perfectly fuse any genes together.
But the genes of this Silver Superman were obviously an exception; the energy contained within them was simply too immense.
No gene was qualified to fuse with it, and even his energy-swallowing body might not be able to fully accommodate it.
Therefore, this was a technical difficulty that needs a breakthrough.
Loren shrank the holographic projection, took a few steps back, and looked at the problem as a whole.
He had tried using nanobots to stabilize the fusion process, and tried using the energy of the Mind Stone to synchronize the expression cycles of the two genomes.
He had tried using a certain cell membrane modification technology mentioned in the notes of the Skrulls to reduce the immune response, but all methods pointed to the same problem.
When the genes of a Kryptonian were introduced into human cells, the human immune system would recognize them as foreign invaders and initiate a comprehensive clearance procedure.
This was not a big problem originally, as immunosuppression could solve it. But the problem was that the genes of a Kryptonian were not ordinary genes; they were too strong.
When human immune cells tried to attack the gene expression products of the Kryptonian, those products would turn around and destroy the immune cells.
The result was not rejection, but war.
A war at the cellular level, and the final result had only one: cell death.
Over the course of a week, he tested three thousand seven hundred different fusion schemes.
None of them succeeded.
In the one with the highest success rate, the cells survived for four hours and thirty-eight minutes before disintegrating.
During those four hours and thirty-eight minutes, that cell did indeed exhibit some characteristics of a Kryptonian.
Stronger energy metabolism, faster division speed, and higher pressure resistance.
But its collapse also proved that survival was only temporary, and fusion had not truly occurred.
Loren leaned against the edge of the console, supporting himself on the countertop with both hands, lowering his head.
He needed a new train of thought, a completely different perspective.
"Maybe," he muttered to himself, his voice echoing in the spacious laboratory.
"I should not try to fuse the two genes. Maybe I should completely replace human genes with Kryptonian genes. Not fusion, but replacement."
But in that case, would he still be himself?
If every piece of DNA in every single cell of his became Kryptonian, would he still be Loren Morgan?
Or rather, was he just a Kryptonian with the memories of Loren Morgan?
This was a philosophical question, but Loren had no time to think about philosophy right now.
What he needed was a solution, not an identity crisis.
He raised his head, his gaze accidentally falling on a folder in the corner of the console.
That was placed there by Alice a few days ago, which was a gene analysis report on the transformation ability of the Skrulls.
At that time, he only glanced at it and continued to devote himself to the research of the serum.
But now, his gaze lingered on that folder.
The Skrulls.
They could turn into the appearance of any creature, not only appearance, but also physiological characteristics, energy attributes, and even partial abilities.
How did they do it?
If the Skrulls could seamlessly switch from one biological form to another.
That meant their genes must possess a certain special attribute.
A kind of attribute that could adapt to any biological characteristic, with extreme elasticity, and without causing rejection reactions.
Chapter 376: The Genetic Secret of the Skrulls
Loren walked over, picked up the folder, and opened the first page.
Alice's report was written in great detail, ranging from cellular changes during the Skrulls' transformation to the regulatory mechanisms of gene expression.
Every step had data support and theoretical analysis. Lorenflipped through page by page, his eyes growing brighter and brighter.
"Genetic plasticity. The Skrulls' genome contains a highly repetitive sequence.
This sequence undergoes structural reorganization during transformation, rearranging the order of base pairs to express different proteins.
This rearrangement is not random, but is regulated by a morphology-control gene located on the 23rd chromosome.
The expression product of this gene is a special enzyme capable of identifying the target organism's physical features and converting them into genetic-level instructions."
He stopped and closed the folder.
The genes of the Skrulls are not fixed.
They can rearrange themselves during transformation, like a living book where the content of every page can be rewritten as needed.
This plasticity means that the Skrulls' genes have an extremely high tolerance for any foreign genetic information.
It's not "not rejecting," but rather "not thinking there is anything that needs to be rejected."
For the cells of the Skrulls, any gene is acceptable because their own genes are constantly changing anyway.
Loren paced back and forth in the laboratory, his fingers unconsciously drawing circles in the air.
If he could extract that genetic plasticity mechanism from the Skrulls and apply it to the fusion process of human cells and Kryptonian genes.
A Skrull's cell would not reject the Kryptonian genes because a Skrull's cells are constantly accepting new genetic information anyway.
Then, if he temporarily turned a human cell into a Skrull's cell.
Introduce the Kryptonian genes in that state.
Let the fusion happen in the cellular environment of the Skrulls, and then turn the fused cell back into a human cell...
He stopped in his tracks.
This train of thought was feasible.
But he needed to figure out the underlying principles of the Skrulls' genetic plasticity first.
Not the superficial transformation ability, but that undefended cellular state that remains open to any foreign genetic information.
That was the core secret of the Skrulls, more fundamental and important than their transformation ability.
And to figure out this secret, he needed a living Skrull.
Not the one whose memory was erased; that Skrull had already lost the ability to transform accurately, and his genetic plasticity was most likely affected as well.
He needed a complete, healthy Skrull with full transformation capabilities.
Loren walked over to the communication console in the corner of the laboratory and pressed Alice's channel.
"Alice, I need you to help me find a Skrull."
There was silence in the communicator for a second, and then Alice's voice sounded: "New?"
"New, alive, do not erase his memory, do not destroy his genes, I need him to stand in my laboratory completely unharmed."
"When?"
"The sooner the better."
"Understood."
The communication was cut off.
Loren stood in front of the communication console, his fingers lingering on the button for a moment.
Then he turned around, looking at the substandard serum prototypes marked on the console, something burning in his eyes.
Not hope, but direction.
The way Alice found the second Skrull was completely different from how she found the first.
The first Skrull was locked down in Brooklyn because he left energy traces while escaping.
As for the second Skrull, Alice found him through his eating habits.
This discovery was purely accidental, amidst the massive data of the U.S. video surveillance system.
Alice's algorithm had been searching for any individuals matching the Skrulls' behavioral patterns.
She set thousands of parameters: gait, heart rate, body temperature, energy radiation, speech patterns, social behavior...
One of the parameters was very inconspicuous, called food consumption frequency.
The Skrulls' metabolism was much faster than humans'.
Even at rest, their basal metabolic rate was five to six times that of humans.
This meant they needed to eat more frequently, and the amount of each meal was larger.
In human society, this metabolic characteristic was difficult to hide.
You couldn't eat five people's worth of food in one meal in public without attracting attention.
But the Skrulls were smart; they learned to split meals.
Within a day, eating in different restaurants, at different times, and under different identities.
A Skrull could eat a hearty breakfast in Manhattan as a middle-aged White man at nine in the morning.
Eat an equally hearty lunch in Queens as an Asian woman at twelve noon.
Eat afternoon tea in Brooklyn as a Latino man at three in the afternoon.
Every time, he looked like an ordinary person with a normal appetite.
But Alice's algorithm didn't look at how much he ate each time.
She looked at how much he ate in a single day.
Data doesn't lie. Over the past few days, a specific dietary pattern had repeatedly appeared across the U.S.
The same energy signature, the same heart rate range, the same body temperature fluctuation curve.
Appearing at different times, in different places, with different appearances.
The daily total calorie intake of this pattern was five times that of a normal human.
Then the other party was a Skrull.
Alice locked onto his current location, an apartment building near Logan Square in Chicago.
It was 10:00 PM local time. The Skrull was in the apartment, in a stationary state, most likely resting.
Logan Square was a residential area in Chicago, and around the apartment building were schools, a church, and a community park.
It was 10:00 PM now, there weren't many pedestrians on the street, but there were still scattered residents walking or walking their dogs.
She needed to complete the capture without attracting attention.
The anti-gravity fighter hovered over Logan Square. Aliceopened the hatch and jumped down from a height of three hundred meters.
Her Vibranium body made almost no sound in the air, and her falling speed was precisely controlled by her, like a feather and yet like a bullet.
She adjusted her posture in the last second before landing, her feet stepping silently on the edge of the apartment building's rooftop.
There was no one on the rooftop.
She walked over to the door of the stairwell, which was locked.
But she inserted her fingers into the keyhole, and the internal metal silently deformed and gave way under her touch.
She pushed open the door and walked down the stairs, her footsteps as light as a cat's.
The Skrull lived on the fourth floor, room number 4B.
Alice stood in front of the door, closed her eyes, and scanned the interior of the room with her sensory abilities.
One person's vital signs, heart rate fifty-two, currently sleeping.
There were no weapons, no traps, and no second person in the room.
She reached out, her fingertips touching the door lock.
Chapter 377 Come with me voluntarily, or I will knock you out and take you away
This time she did not open the door quietly; she chose a more direct way.
Vibranium fingers penetrated the wood and metal layers of the door panel, silent like a hot knife cutting through butter.
She felt the mechanical structure of the door lock, gave it a gentle flick, the latch slid open, and the door opened silently.
The room was very small, a one-bedroom and one-living-room apartment, with simple furniture.
Skrulls slept on the bed in the bedroom, curled up like a hibernating animal.
His appearance was that of a white male in his forties, with short brown hair, a slightly chubby face, and wearing grey pajamas.
If he walked on the street, no one would give him a second glance.
Alice stood at the bedroom door, looking at him.
She did not deliberately hide her presence.
Her body emitted a faint silver luster in the dark, which was inconspicuous.
But in a completely dark room, it was enough to be noticed by an experienced warrior.
Skrulls' eyes opened.
Not slowly, not sleepily.
Instead, in an instant, from completely closed to completely open, the pupils instantly changed from human circles to a reptile's vertical slits.
His body bounced up from a curled-up posture, taking less than 0.3 seconds in the whole process, like a spring compressed to its limit and then suddenly released.
He stood on the bed, barefoot, his body slightly crouched, center of gravity forward, hands open.
This was not the reaction of an ordinary person; this was the reaction of a warrior, the muscle memory only possessed by someone who had experienced countless life-and-death combats.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The voice was that of the white male, but the tone had changed.
Colder, harder, like a layer of thin ice covering a calm lake surface.
"The person here to take you away." Alice said.
Skrulls' pupils changed again, turning from vertical slits into pure black.
The entire eyeballs were filled with black, with no whites, no irises, only two bottomless black spheres.
This was the hallmark of Skrulls' combat form, and their vision would switch to another spectrum in this state.
Able to see infrared rays, ultraviolet rays, electromagnetic fields, and energy flows.
He saw the gem between Alice's eyebrows.
The golden light pulsated in the dark, like a dormant heart.
Skrulls' body moved sharply to the side; his target was the window.
He wanted to break the glass, jump onto the fire escape outside, and then use the complex structure of the fire escape to escape.
His plan was very good.
But his speed was not fast enough.
Alice moved at the exact same moment he started.
Her Vibranium body had no muscle-stretching process, no pre-action of gathering strength.
Her movement was purely driven by will; she wanted to move, and then she moved.
This way of moving was physically unreasonable.
Because any object with mass required the action of force when changing its state of motion, and the action of force took time.
But Alice's body was not ordinary matter, her consciousness was not ordinary consciousness, and her existence itself was a challenge to the laws of physics.
She appeared between Skrulls and the window.
Skrulls almost crashed into her, forcing a change of direction at the last moment.
The bones of the body made a cracking sound in the process of deformation, shoulders twisted at an impossible angle, and the whole person shifted half a meter to the left.
His left hand reached for the bedside table and pulled a knife out of the drawer.
It was not an ordinary knife; blue energy lines flowed on the blade, which was a kind of energy weapon based on alien technology.
He slashed his knife at Alice's neck.
The action was clean and neat, without unnecessary fancy flair.
The blade grazed through the air, making a sharp buzzing sound.
The blue energy lines burst on the blade, forming an energy field that magnified the cutting power of the blade by at least tenfold.
This slash was enough to cut through steel.
Alice did not dodge.
She reached out and pinched the blade with her index and middle fingers.
Two fingers, Vibranium fingers, clamped onto the body of the energy knife like a pair of pliers.
The blue energy burst on the surface of the Vibranium, and electric arcs leaped on Alice's hand.
But the atomic structure of Vibranium almost ignored this level of energy attack.
The energy knife let out a wail, not a real wail, but the resonant frequency generated when the energy core inside the blade was operating under overload.
Skrulls watched his knife being pinched by two fingers, and a trace of ripple finally appeared in his black eyes.
He let go of the hilt and took two steps back.
Not running away, he knew he couldn't run away, it was a re-evaluation.
"You are not human." Skrulls said, the cold hardness in his voice lessened a bit, replaced by a kind of caution.
"Your body is Vibranium, but you have a heartbeat. You are not a robot, you are some kind of synthetic life!"
Alice removed the energy knife from between her fingers, glanced at it, and then casually threw it on the ground.
The moment the blade hit the ground, the blue energy lines flickered violently a few times and then went out.
"You are smart, but it's meaningless." Alice said while approaching Skrulls.
Continuing to say: "Now, you have two choices.
First, come with me and cooperate with my demands; you will live and return completely.
Second, I will knock you out and drag you away; you won't return alive, but you will still come with me."
Skrulls looked at her, his black eyes blinking slowly.
"What if I choose the third?"
"There is no third."
Skrulls' body began to change.
Not turning into Silver Surfer, not turning into Hulk.
Instead, it turned into a three-meter-tall monster with dark gray skin, four arms, and no eyes on its head.
Only a huge circular mouthpart full of teeth, which was a form Alice had never seen before.
And she didn't know where this Skrulls had seen such a monster, anyway it looked quite disgusting.
Skrulls' four arms swung toward Alice at the same time, with attack organs of different shapes growing at the end of each arm.
A fist, a claw, a bone spur, a hammer-like structure.
The four attack points covered Alice's head, chest, abdomen, and legs, without any dead angles.
But right at that moment, Alice moved.
Her body made a rotation in place, her right leg swept out and kicked the lowermost hammer-like arm.
The hardness of Vibranium combined with her speed, the power of that kick was enough to kick a tank flying.
Skrulls' hammer-like arm broke from the root, gray blood splashed out, splashing on the floor and making a sizzling corrosive sound.
Her left fist hit the palm of the claw, the power of the fist piercing through the bones and muscles of the claw.
Bursting out from the back of the hand, tearing the entire arm into two halves.
Her right elbow hit the root of the bone spur, the bone spur snapped, flew out and nailed into the ceiling.
Her left knee hit the elbow joint of the fist, the joint bent backward, and the arm hung down like a broken branch.
Four attacks, four responses, the time difference was less than 0.2 seconds.
Skrulls was disassembled into wreckage within four seconds.
He staggered backward, blood gushing from his severed limbs, pooling into a puddle of corrosive liquid on the floor.
He had no eyes, but his mouthparts were constantly opening and closing, making a sharp, harsh cry.
That was not anger, that was fear.
Chapter 378: A Person Who Needs Your Help
"Your shifting ability is quite exceptional." Alice stood in front of him, yet not a single drop of blood stained her clothes.
Yet her expression remained calm, as if nothing had happened at all.
"Your combat form is very creative, but your body cannot keep up with your creativity.
Your bone strength is insufficient, your muscle density is insufficient, and your nerve conduction speed is insufficient.
You used imagination to create a perfect combat form, but you built it using Skrulls biological materials.
And the materials of the Skrulls are far too fragile for me."
The body of the Skrulls began to shrink, shrinking back from a three-meter-tall monster to the size of a normal human.
He knelt on the ground, supporting himself on the floor with both hands, panting heavily.
His skin turned back from dark gray to the original green of the Skrulls, pointed ears poked out from his messy hair, and his pupils reverted to the slit pupils of a reptile.
"What… on earth… kind of monster are you?" He asked between gasps.
"That is not something for you to know; all you need to do is come with me."
Alice squatted down, looking him squarely in the eye, the blue light of the gemstone between her eyebrows illuminating his green face.
She reached out and pressed her hand onto the forehead of the Skrulls.
The body of the Skrulls froze, his pupils contracting violently, his mouth opening but unable to produce a sound.
He felt a powerful force invade his consciousness, though it was not reading memories.
Loren had said not to destroy his genes, so Alice did not use the memory-reading function of the Mind Stone.
She was merely scanning his physical condition, confirming the integrity of his genes, and ensuring he was a qualified sample.
A few seconds later, she let go of her hand.
"Your genes are complete, very good." Alice stood up.
She took a small metal ring out of her pocket and slipped it onto the wrist of the Skrulls.
The moment the metal ring touched his skin, it automatically contracted, tightly clamping onto his wrist bones.
The Skrulls lowered his head to take a look, a look of despair appearing on his green face.
"This is an inhibitor; it will block your shifting ability.
At the same time, it releases a sedative to keep your body in a stable state that will not self-destruct.
Rest assured, for now you will not die, you will not be injured, and you will not even feel pain."
The Skrulls raised his head, Alice's figure reflected in his slit pupils.
"Where are you taking me?"
"To see someone."
"And after seeing them?"
Alice looked at him, and the gemstone between her eyebrows pulsed once.
"That depends on him."
She picked the Skrulls up off the ground, not with rough dragging, but with a gentle support.
The legs of the Skrulls were trembling; the sedative had already begun to take effect.
His muscles grew relaxed, his consciousness became hazy, but he had not completely lost consciousness.
Alice supported him as she walked out of the room, walked down the corridor, went up the stairs, and walked to the rooftop.
An anti-gravity fighter craft hovered overhead, its hatch open, and a beam of light shot down from the cabin, illuminating the rooftop.
"Get in." Alice said.
The Skrulls looked at that beam of light, his green lips moving slightly as if wanting to say something, but in the end saying nothing at all.
He grasped Alice's extended hand, and the two of them were pulled together into the cabin by the tractor beam.
The hatch closed.
The fighter craft turned eastward, dragging a faint white line across the night sky as it flew toward Morgan Manor.
The underground laboratory of Morgan Manor, two o'clock in the morning.
The Skrulls was fixed onto a specially made experimental chair.
The material of the chair was carbon fiber composite, and its surface was covered with a layer of soft memory foam.
This was so that the restrained person would not feel uncomfortable from maintaining the same posture for a long time; this was not out of mercy, but out of experimental necessity.
For a creature in a state of extreme discomfort, its physiological data would be affected by the stress response, leading to deviations in the experimental results.
The wrists, ankles, waist, and neck of the Skrulls were all secured by straps made of non-metallic materials, the tightness of which had been precisely adjusted.
This could both prevent him from breaking free and avoid affecting his blood circulation.
A slender catheter was inserted into his left arm, with the other end connected to an automatic blood collection machine.
Every fifteen minutes, two milliliters of blood would be drawn from his veins and sent to an analyzer for real-time testing.
Loren stood beside the experimental chair, holding a tablet computer in his hand, the screen displaying the real-time analysis results of the Skrulls genome.
He had been standing in front of the screen for three hours, his eyes moving rapidly among the data, his brows slightly knitted.
But the corners of his mouth held an almost invisible arc, which was the sign of him entering a state of deep thought.
Alice stood in the corner of the laboratory, her arms crossed, her back leaning against the wall, the light of the gemstone between her eyebrows almost invisible under the white light.
Her gaze shifted back and forth between Loren and the Skrulls, like a quiet cheetah, ready to intervene whenever needed.
The consciousness of the Skrulls was awake.
The effects of the sedative had been completely metabolized three hours ago, and the inhibitor blocked his shifting ability, but his mind was clear.
He watched Loren pacing back and forth beside the experimental chair, looking at the data on the tablet screen that he could not understand.
There was no fear in his green eyes, at least not on the surface.
"You have studied me for three hours; have you found what you wanted?" The Skrulls spoke, his voice hoarse but steady.
Loren did not raise his head, his fingers sliding across the tablet screen to pull up another set of data.
"Twenty-three percent of the length in your gene sequence is repetitive."
Loren spoke, his tone sounding as if he were talking to himself, and yet also as if he were answering the question of the Skrulls.
"This is not an error, nor a mutation, but a functional repetition; every repetitive sequence is a backup.
When your genes need to be reorganized during shifting, these backup sequences provide the necessary templates and buffer space.
Your genome is not a linear code, but a binder where every single page can be pulled out, replaced, and rearranged."
The Skrulls fell silent.
He did not know how Loren had come to this conclusion within three hours.
The genetics of the Skrulls was the most core secret of their race, a field of knowledge that they had spent hundreds of years gradually coming to understand.
And an Earthling—no, this person was not an Earthling, a fact the Skrulls had realized the very first time he saw Loren.
This person had accomplished in three hours an analysis that the Skrulls required hundreds of years to complete.
"Who on earth are you?" The Skrulls asked.
Loren finally raised his head and looked at him. His gray eyes appeared very pale under the white light, like two pieces of frosted glass.
"A person who needs your help." Loren said.
"You tied me to a chair, put an inhibitor on me, drew blood every fifteen minutes, and then said you need my help?"
"I need your genes. Your genes contain a mechanism that allows cells to remain open to any foreign genetic information.
I need this mechanism to solve my problem. If you are willing to cooperate with me, I can keep you comfortable and dignified during this process.
If you are unwilling…" He paused for a moment, "I can still get what I need, only you won't like the process."
Chapter 379 Gene Machine
The Skrull looked into his eyes, searching for something in those black eyes.
Cruelty, indifference, or some weakness he could exploit.
But he found nothing; Loren's eyes were calm, like a wall with no reflection at all.
"What do you want my genes for?" the Skrull asked.
Loren did not answer.
He turned and walked toward the console, placed the tablet on the countertop, and brought up an animated presentation.
The animation showed the process of a human cell and a Kryptonian gene fragment fusing under the action of the Skrull gene plasticity mechanism.
The cell membrane of the cell became soft and permeable, and the foreign gene fragment was wrapped in a special vesicle.
It was safely transported to the cell nucleus and then integrated into the host's genome.
Throughout the process, there was no rejection reaction, no immune attack, and no cell death.
The Skrull watched the animation, his vertical pupils contracting slightly.
"You want to use my genes to modify yourself?" he said, his voice slightly less hoarse.
"You want to turn yourself into someone with Skrull genetic traits?"
"You are wrong, it's not having Skrull genetic traits.
It is borrowing the Skrulls' gene plasticity mechanism to solve the rejection reaction between human cells and other genes.
Once the fusion is complete, that mechanism is no longer needed.
Your genes will not be integrated into my genome; it's just a tool to be discarded after use."
The Skrull fell silent for a long time.
In the laboratory, only the low humming of the instruments and the slight prompt sound emitted by the blood collection device every fifteen minutes remained.
"What if I refuse?" the Skrull finally said.
Loren looked at him, with no ripples in his black eyes.
"Then I will take it myself."
The Skrull's lips moved, wanting to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.
He lowered his head, looking at the suppressor on his wrist, the catheter inserted into his arm, and his green, currently powerless hands.
"Do you want to know how the Skrulls' gene plasticity came to be?" the Skrull suddenly said, his voice very low, as if talking to himself.
Loren looked at him without rushing him.
"A long time ago, the Skrulls were not like this," the Skrull continued.
"We were an ordinary race, with our own forms, our own genes, and our own destiny.
Then we encountered an entity—no, not encountered, but were encountered by one.
That entity did something to our race, changed our genes, and turned us into what we are now.
It was not evolution, but modification.
We were modified into a race that can turn into any form, but the price is that we lost our own form.
Do you know what a Skrull thinks when standing in front of a mirror, looking at his green skin and pointed ears?
He thinks, is this my true appearance? Or is this just another transformation?"
The Skrull raised his head and looked at Loren.
"We have no answer, and we will never have an answer, because there is no record of our original form in our genes.
Those twenty-three percent of repetitive sequences are not backups; they are cages.
They allow us to turn into anyone, except ourselves."
Loren listened quietly, his expression unchanged.
Because he was completely clear about the entity mentioned by the Skrull.
That party was precisely the notoriously famous Celestialsof the Marvel Universe; not only were the Skrulls created by them.
The Eternal, Deviants, and Mutants on Earth were all crafted by the hands of the Celestials.
"Your story is moving, but my problem will not be solved by your story.
I need your gene plasticity mechanism, not to modify your race, not to harm anyone.
But to make myself strong enough to protect some people and things I care about," Loren said calmly.
The Skrull looked at him, something flashing in his green eyes.
"You are now in my laboratory, tied to a chair by me, having your blood drawn by me, being researched by me.
But you are alive, your genes are complete, and your consciousness is clear.
You will walk out of here, return to your clansmen, and carry this experience with you.
If you cooperate with me, this process will be fast and easy.
If you do not cooperate, the result will be the same, but you will suffer a lot.
Therefore, you can make your choice now."
The laboratory was quiet for a long time.
The blood collection device issued its fifteenth prompt sound, automatically drawing two milliliters of blood and sending it into the analyzer.
The data on the screen jumped, updating yet another segment of the Skrull genome.
The Skrull closed his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, a trace of submission appeared in them.
"I am willing to cooperate with you!"
"Very good, this is a wise move!" Loren nodded with great satisfaction.
Over the next two days, the Skrull cooperated with all of Loren's experiments.
He no longer resisted, no longer asked questions, and no longer tried to escape.
He just sat quietly on the experimental chair, watching Loren shuttle back and forth between his blood, cells, and genes.
Like a precision instrument that had been disassembled, every part was carefully inspected, recorded, and analyzed.
On the third day, Loren found what he wanted.
That was a gene sequence located on chromosome 23 of the Skrulls, with a length of about twelve hundred base pairs, which the Skrulls called the "Morphology Control Gene".
This sequence encoded a special enzyme that could recognize the structural characteristics of foreign gene information and convert it into a format acceptable to the Skrull genome.
Simply put, this was a "gene translator".
It could "translate" the genetic information of any species into the language of the Skrull genome and then seamlessly integrate it.
But Loren did not need integration; he only needed "translation".
If he could isolate the active component of this enzyme and apply it to the fusion process of human cells and Kryptonian genes.
Then human cells would temporarily acquire the ability to "translate" the genetic information of Kryptonians into a format acceptable to themselves, thereby avoiding immune rejection reactions.
This was a breakthrough.
A true breakthrough sufficient to allow his research to continue.
But there was still one problem: this enzyme was not produced out of thin air.
It needed to be "activated", and what activated it was an external device that the Skrulls called a "gene machine".
"Gene machine?" Loren put down the test tube in his hand, turned around, and looked at the Skrull.
The Skrull sat on the experimental chair, his complexion a bit paler than two days ago.
Continuous blood drawing made him somewhat weak, but his consciousness was clear, and he nodded.
Chapter 380 Your Commander will change his mind
"On the mothership of the Skrulls, there is a device that we call the 'gene granting device'."
"This device can write specific genetic information into the genome of the Skrulls, thereby granting them new transformation templates."
"Without this device, our transformation abilities can only stay at a basic level."
"We can change our appearance, but we cannot acquire the abilities of the target organism."
"That device is the true core of the transformation abilities of the Skrulls."
Loren frowned.
"You mean that you were able to turn into the Silver Surfernot because your transformation ability is strong enough, but because that device wrote the genetic information of the Silver Surfer into your genome?"
"Yes," the Skrull said, "Every Skrull is born with only basic transformation abilities: changing appearance, voice, and body shape."
"However, to acquire the special abilities of a target organism, such as the cosmic energy of the Silver Surfer or the strength of the Hulk, we need the help of that device."
"It analyzes the genes and energy characteristics of the target organism, and then encodes them into a format that the genome of the Skrulls can read."
"Without it, we can only imitate appearances and cannot copy abilities."
Loren leaned against the edge of the console, tapping his fingers twice on the tabletop.
Is this why the first Skrull only had the appearance and no abilities when he turned into the Silver Surfer form in Brooklyn?
No, that Skrull did possess the appearance of the Silver Surfer; his silver form looked identical to the real Silver Surfer, but his energy signature was completely wrong.
He did not have the cosmic energy of the Silver Surfer, nor the ability to fly across the Universe at faster-than-light speeds, nor the nearly invincible defense of the real Silver Surfer.
So, where did that Skrull obtain the form template of the Silver Surfer?
"That device of yours," Loren said, "how many transformation templates does it store?"
"Thousands," the Skrull said, "From ordinary interstellar creatures to cosmic-level existences. Every template is the result of collection and encoding by the Skrulls over thousands of years."
"The template of the Silver Surfer is one of our most precious collections; we paid a heavy price to obtain his gene sample decades ago."
Decades ago.
Not on Earth.
Loren noted this information in his heart.
"Where is that device now?"
The Skrull's eyes flashed.
He knew what Loren was going to ask, and he was hesitating whether to answer.
"On the mothership of the Skrulls," he finally said, "The mothership is currently parked in the asteroid belt at the edge of the Solar System."
"Our invasion plan was disrupted by the failure of DeLu (the first Skrull), the Commander is re-evaluating the situation, and the mothership has not moved temporarily."
Loren was silent for a moment.
"I need that device."
The Skrull looked at him, a trace of fear appearing in his green eyes.
"That might disappoint you; that device is the core technology of the Skrulls and one of the fundamental reasons our civilization has survived to this day."
"Our Commander will not hand it over to anyone, not even in the face of death."
Loren looked at him, his gray eyes as calm as stagnant water.
"Your Commander will change his mind."
He turned around and walked to the other end of the laboratory, where there was a huge holographic screen.
He brought up a set of interstellar coordinates on the screen, the coordinates of the Skrulls mothership, which were read from the consciousness of this Skrull.
Yes, Loren ultimately used the Mind Stone, but not through Alice, but through himself.
His consciousness was able to resonate to a certain extent with the Mind Stone, although not as deeply as Alice.
But it was enough to read the surface memories of a Skrull whose transformation ability was suppressed by a suppressor.
He stared at those coordinates, his black eyes shining like two stars in the blue holographic light.
Then he walked to the center of the laboratory, waved his hand, and a blue gem appeared in his hand.
It was precisely the Space Stone.
Blue light surged out from the stone, rotating, condensing, and expanding in the air to form a blue light gate with a diameter of about two meters.
On the other side of the light gate was black space, distant stars, and a huge, silver-gray interstellar mothership.
The Skrull looked at that light gate, his vertical pupils contracting to the extreme.
"That is! Our mothership!"
"Yes," Loren said, and then he turned around and said a word to another door in the laboratory.
"Nymph, No. 18, come in."
The door opened.
Two figures walked in.
"Master, are you looking for us?"
"Yes, there is a matter that requires you to handle it!"
Loren walked in front of them and transmitted the coordinates of the Skrulls mothership into Nymph's system.
"I need a device on the Skrulls mothership called the 'gene granting device'."
"It is on the mothership of the Skrulls. You need to bring it back, bring it back completely."
Nymph tilted her head and blinked her golden eyes.
"What if the Skrulls don't give it?"
"Then make them give it."
No. 18 did not speak; she just nodded slightly, looked calmly at the starry sky on the other side of the light gate with her blue eyes, and then stepped toward the light gate.
Her pace was light and steady, like someone taking a walk in her own garden.
Nymph followed behind, her bare feet stepping on the floor, making a slight pattering sound.
The two figures disappeared into the blue light.
The light gate slowly shrank behind them, eventually turning into a point of light, and then completely disappeared.
Loren stood in place, looking at the position where the light gate disappeared, with no unnecessary emotion in his gray eyes.
The Skrull looked at the light gate that had disappeared, looked at Loren's back, and his green lips trembled slightly.
"Those two women, who are they?"
Loren turned around and looked at him.
"They are my people," he said.
He walked to the experimental chair, untied the straps on the Skrull's wrists and ankles, and kept only the suppressor.
The Skrull moved his wrists that had been tied for three days, his joints making a slight clicking sound.
"You are free," Loren said, "You can choose to stay here, wait for them to return, and see with your own eyes whether your Commander will change his mind."
"Or you can choose to leave, return to your clansmen, and tell them not to come to Earth anymore."
The Skrull sat in the chair, rubbing his wrists, his green eyes staring at Loren.
"Aren't you afraid that after I go back, I will tell the Commander all your information?"
Loren looked at him, the corners of his mouth moving slightly.
"You can try," he said.
Edge of the Solar System, asteroid belt.
The Skrulls mothership "Conqueror" floated quietly among billions of rock fragments, its silver-gray hull emitting a cold metallic luster under the starlight.
Its length was about twelve kilometers, its width four kilometers, and its height two kilometers, making it the second-largest capital ship in the Skrulls fleet.
The hull was covered with energy cannon turrets and sensor arrays, and a faint blue energy shield flowed on its surface.
That was the most advanced defense technology of the Skrulls, capable of resisting direct impacts from asteroids and attacks from most interstellar weapons.