Chapter 285: Injection Begins
The circular hall on the second underground floor was even colder than imagined.
Simone changed into a pair of flat Martin boots, stepping on the anti-slip steel plate with a muffled thudding sound.
She raised her hand to tidy the collar of her coat, her gaze sweeping across the neatly arranged five thousand alloy injection chambers.
Dim green indicator lights shone beside each chamber, and the people lying on them ranged from men and women to the old and young, each stretching their necks out long with pale complexions.
"Knowing earlier, I should not have been greedy for this cheap bargain..."
A fat freight driver on the outer side muttered softly, his plump fingers gripping the leather cushion beneath him out of shape.
"This place looks like a secret gas chamber from World War II no matter how you look at it, pal, will they really not slice us up?"
A bespectacled young man next to him swallowed a mouthful of saliva, his voice floating: "No way... Times Square outside is packed with reporters, and even the broadcast trucks of CNN have driven over."
"Even if Vought Company is bold, they would not dare kill five thousand people in front of the entire World, right?"
Although that was said, looking at the Vought guards around wearing full-coverage gas masks and holding high-voltage stun guns in their hands, no one had any confidence in their hearts.
Most people had watched the awakening documentary released by Simone a few days ago, and rushed over to get a number in a moment of hot-headedness.
When they truly lay on this cold metal rack, and the cold metal rings clasped their wrists and ankles, that fear of unknown human experiments crawled up along their spines.
Unfortunately, once they came in, it was no longer up to them to regret.
"Attention all test subjects, the intravenous access has been established."
Yuheng's voice rang through the broadcast above the dome, the emotionless electronic sound suppressing the whispers in the hall, "The serum will be injected in three seconds, the process will be accompanied by nerve stimulation, please maintain a flat lying posture, do not resist."
"Wait a minute! I do not want to..."
The fat driver had just shouted half a sentence at the top of his lungs.
Hiss!
Five thousand automatic injection needles pierced into the veins at the same time.
The dark blue serum was fiercely pushed into the blood vessels by the pneumatic pusher.
The crowd that was still hesitating and backing out in the previous second suddenly stiffened their entire bodies into hard planks in the next second.
That was a violent recombination at the genetic level.
"Ah——!"
Not knowing who led the howling first, following closely, the entire underground hall completely turned into a living hell.
The screams of five thousand people mixed together, and the sound wave lifted up almost flipped over the reinforced concrete roof.
A few minutes ago, these people were just ordinary citizens driving trucks, typing on keyboards, and sitting in offices. How could they have ever endured this bone-tearing pain?
They had not received professional anti-interrogation training, and they were certainly not elite Agents who could bite their teeth to pieces and swallow them into their stomachs.
The screams, retching, and crying-for-parents begging sounds merged into one, sharp like countless rusted and dull saws repeatedly pulling back and forth on the bones.
This commotion was simply too loud, and the thick ground damping layer could not block it at all.
Penetrating the foundations and ventilation ducts, the sound faintly reached the ground.
Outside the main entrance of Vought Tower, behind the heavily blocked cordon.
Reporters carrying long guns and short cannons looked at each other, and the originally noisy questioning voices were suddenly choked out by this shouting seeping from underground.
Everyone's back felt cold, staring suspiciously and uncertainly at that closed door.
On the open-air seats of the cafe across the street, the movements of several figures wearing duck-tongue caps stopped in unison.
"It does not sound like going to receive Super Strength, it looks more like falling into a meat grinder."
Natasha held her coffee cup, speaking in a low voice, her eyes turning cold.
Steve's brows were tightly knitted, the knuckles of his fingers holding the coffee spoon turning white: "Fury warned before that human enhancement without strict psychological screening and gene pairing has a casualty rate exceeding ninety percent."
"Lu Chen is treating five thousand human lives as his guinea pigs."
"The heartbeats underground are very messy."
In the corner of the bar, the blind lawyer Matt Murdock wearing sunglasses slightly tilted his head, his ears moving gently.
In his extraordinary World of hearing, five thousand frantically beating hearts were making chaotic drumbeats, some even about to burst from beating.
"But the strange thing is... up until now, the heartbeat of every single person has continued."
Before his voice fell, Barton sitting on the bench on the other side narrowed his eyes: "The screams have stopped."
Indeed they stopped.
The screams in the hall were abruptly cut off as if by a large hand.
A thick sour sweat smell permeated throughout the hall.
Five thousand men and women who had just been in agonizing pain slumped on the lounge chairs, panting heavily.
Following closely, fine sounds of inhalation and ecstatic exclamations sounded one after another.
"My... my arm?"
That fat driver raised his hand in disbelief.
Beneath the originally sagging and drooping fat, hard muscle blocks were frantically bulging. With a casual downward press by him, the solid metal armrest was actually pressed into a clear palm print like dough!
"Oh heaven! God! I truly possess strength now!"
"Hahahaha! I no longer have to look at the expression of that damn workshop director!"
The enormous strength instantly overwhelmed their minds.
The inferiority, frustration, and resentment originally suppressed at the very bottom of society found an outlet for vent at this moment.
Dozens of people whose physical fitness was originally slightly better directly broke free from the restraint straps, jumping down from the beds with flushed faces, and some even started to emit crackling electric sparks from their bodies.
"All of you get lost! I have become a Superman!"
A bald man who was originally an underground gang hoodlum laughed wildly, and a ball of orange-red raging flames suddenly rose from his two palms.
Alcohol, arrogance, and inflated ambition made him completely lose his mind, and he flicked his hand to fling the fireball toward the walking-over Vought guard: "Go to hell!"
Whoosh!
The fireball had just flown two meters when a cold light flashed in the air.
The Vought Agent standing in the front row did not even change his gaze in the slightest.
The pitch-black Vibranium alloy long saber in his hand slashed across the sky directly, and as the blade swept past, the scorching fireball was actually forcefully split into two, dispersing into a few wisps of black smoke in mid-air.
The next second, the Agent's figure thrust forward in front of the bald man.
The power erupted by the LV4 Super Physique was completely a dimensional reduction strike.
The Agent backhanded a slap on the bald man's face. Accompanied by a few bloody broken teeth, the bald man's body of around two hundred catties flew backward like a cannonball, heavily smashing onto the alloy bed, directly causing the entire bed frame to be dented and broken.
Before the bald man could climb up, a black Military boot had already firmly stepped on his chest, pressing his ribs to creak.
"Ah! My chest... spare my life!"
The bald man screamed like a butchered pig.
Meanwhile, on the walls and ceiling around the hall, dense mechanical gear interlocking sounds came over.
Click click click——!
The originally flat metal wall split open countless hidden compartments, and rows of pitch-black quadruple-mounted energy cannon barrels probed out, with dim blue high-energy particles rapidly charging inside the muzzles.
Holographic aiming red dots instantly fell on the forehead of everyone trying to instigate trouble.
This was all the heavy dowry sent over by HYDRA back then when they surrendered, coupled with the latest specification riot self-defense system of S.H.I.E.L.D., turning the entire underground hall into a meat-grinder position armed to the teeth within three seconds.
The five thousand newly-promoted "Supermen" who were just restless and felt invincible in the World instantly shrank their necks back.
Cold sweat poured down in a rush.
Facing those hundreds of energy cannons exuding a destructive aura, the negligible complacency they had just inflated was poured over by a basin of ice water that chilled them to the bone by reality.
So what if they could pinch iron pipes bent with bare hands?
So what if they could throw fireballs?
In front of this group of fully armed, cold-blooded Agents holding Vibranium weapons, they were still as fragile as a group of featherless chicks.
Simone stood on the high platform, condescendingly overlooking this group of frightened ordinary people, her expression as cold as looking at a bunch of parts on a factory assembly line.
She raised her wrist to check the time, turning her head to instruct the subordinate beside her: "The riot has been dealt with."
"Open the passage, split into fifty columns, and start registration."
"Yes!"
The restraint straps were all loosened.
Five thousand people obediently climbed down from the injection chambers, and no one dared to clamor loudly anymore, each lowering their heads, obediently lining up according to the guards' guidance, moving toward the electronic registration desk in the center of the hall.
Electronic agreements were placed on the table one by one.
The content was not complicated, printed in very large fonts:
[One, truthfully report and test awakened ability categories, energy peak values, and physiological changes.]
[Two, must accept gene stability checks of Vought Company at irregular intervals.]
[Three, once concealment of ability, refusal to accept re-examination, or use of ability to engage in illegal and criminal activities is discovered, Vought Company will retract all bestowed privileges, and bear the consequences at your own risk.]
That fat driver tremblingly pressed his fingerprint on the screen, letting out a long sigh of relief in his heart.
Fortunately, Simone had publicly read these terms aloud when registering, and they were not considered harsh.
What was it to come for a free physical examination once a month if it could exchange for huge strength to tear trucks apart with bare hands?
The vast majority of ordinary citizens signed willingly.
But the nearly three hundred spies from various factions mixed in the queue were feeling rather doubtful in their hearts at this moment.
An Agent from the Military stared at the terms on the tablet, reading them repeatedly three times, his brows knitted into a dead knot.
No confidentiality agreement?
Not even restrictive clauses prohibiting them from working for other organizations?
Even if the Military developed a new type of bulletproof vest, soldiers participating in the experiment had to sign dozens of pages of lifelong gag orders.
Vought Company distributed such a genetic divine medicine sufficient to change the course of human history to them, yet did not care at all where they went, who they met, or to whom they sold blood samples after walking out of this door?
Was this confidence... or arrogance to the point of being completely oblivious to everyone?
After pressing his fingerprint, the Military Agent could not help but look up at Simone on the high platform.
That beautiful woman did not even glance at them, as if treating this bunch of spies as air.
This blatant disregard made people feel even more unconfident deep down in their hearts than having a gun pointed at their foreheads.
Chapter 286: Free Laborers
In the top-floor office.
The glow of the holographic projection screen reflected on Lu Chen's handsome face.
He leaned back in the spacious leather chair, his fingers tapping slowly on the armrests, watching the test subjects in the surveillance footage who had finished pressing their handprints and were walking out with faces full of awe and undisguised excitement.
"Sir, the first-stage data of the five thousand people has been fully archived," Yuheng's voice sounded at the appropriate time, "among them are four thousand two hundred and ten LV3 physical enhancers, five hundred and twenty energy projection types, and two hundred and seventy special types. As for the two hundred and eighty suspected spy targets, their physical values are all within normal thresholds, and no second-order mutation has been found yet."
"These people are still quite well-behaved right now." Lu Chen's mouth slowly curled up, the banter in his eyes undisguised, "however, awe of the rules is only because those few slaps just now hurt enough. Once they walk out of this building, once the magnesium lights outside shine on them, and once they return to their own backgrounds... the greed and ambition hidden deep in their hearts will grow wildly like weeds."
Lu Chen casually turned off the holographic projection.
The blue light dissipated, and the office returned to dimness.
"Never mind who those spies bring the samples to; let them analyze and toss about." Lu Chen stood up, overlooking the bustling city beneath his feet, "have the field troops prepare the suppression modules."
"The good show has just begun."
On the street downstairs, the first batch of test subjects who had signed the agreement finally pushed open the heavy doors of Vought Tower.
The dazzling flashes connected into a piece of daylight, the sound of shutters rang out wildly, and the gaze of the entire World completely focused at this moment.
The crowd outside the door was boiling.
The various forces hidden in the dark finally stretched out their claws as well.
In the shadow cast by the cafe's awning, Steve lowered the brim of his baseball cap, his fingers pressing on the Bluetooth headset.
"At eight o'clock, that man in the leather jacket kept touching his lower back when he came out."
"Saw him. He has a modified Glock tucked in his waist, walks with his toes pointing outward, all his weight pressed on his right foot, and he's served time in prison before." Natasha picked up her cup and took a small sip of cold coffee, her voice very light, "and that guy in the gray hoodie at two o'clock, his heartbeat is as fast as a pile driver, clutching car keys in his hand, and constantly glancing sideways at the patrolmen on the roadside."
Barton leaned against the bench, hands shoved in his jacket pockets, chewing gum in his mouth: "Counting these two, we've marked at least six dangerous elements. I can't believe Vought Company actually gives this stuff away for free to such people. Even the old S.H.I.E.L.D. had to pass eighteen rounds of political review just to get a dose of weakened Super Soldier Serum."
"S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Steve let out a self-deprecating laugh, "let's not mention S.H.I.E.L.D. right now."
Natasha didn't refute.
The words sounded harsh, but the facts were just that cruel.
Nick Fury's shady little secrets were all stripped bare in public by Lu Chen at the Triskelion.
"So we can only use this clumsy method." Natasha put down her cup, her eyes very calm, "Lu Chen responds to soft approaches rather than hard ones. If we use the official banner to pressure him, he will only flip out on the spot and tear down the building. But what if... we put the evidence on his desk?"
"Evidence?" Steve turned to look at her.
"Right, evidence." Natasha explained in a low voice, "once this group of people starts to lose control, once they use their newly acquired strength to rob, kill, and smash up the streets of Manhattan, we step forward to hold them down and throw the recordings and casualty data in front of Lu Chen. Anyway, we are comrades who have risked our lives together. As long as we let him see the destructiveness of these people after gaining power, he will at least agree to add a strict personality review."
Steve nodded: "This can be considered a compromise. It's better than sitting here and watching them turn New York upside down."
"Don't think too beautifully of things yet." Barton spat out his chewing gum and sat up a bit straighter, "that guy in the leather jacket got into a car, an unplated Chevrolet."
"Follow him." Steve stood up, pulling down his jacket collar, "Clint, go take a high position, and Natasha and I will tail him in the car."
"Received, Captain." Barton patted the miniature zipline under his cuff, and his entire person quickly melted into the surging crowd of Times Square.
Just as the three Avengers were quietly eyeing that Chevrolet.
At a corner two blocks away from Vought Tower, a man in a suit wearing dark red sunglasses was leaning on a blind cane, standing quietly at the edge of the tactile paving.
Matt Murdock tilted his head slightly.
The clamor of the entire World was stripped into thousands of threads of sound in his head.
The exhaust sound of car exhaust, the subtle sound of tires rubbing against the asphalt, the breathing rhythm of five thousand new enhancers...
Suddenly, the blind cane in Matt's hand paused.
"Thump, thump, thump."
That was an extremely unique heartbeat, accompanied by slight arrhythmia and a clicking sound from the cartilage wear of the left knee joint.
Matt's mouth pursed into a straight line.
He recognized this movement.
Roman, a punk who started by usury and convenience store robbery, had three ribs broken by Matt two months ago and was sent into the detention center.
Logically speaking, this guy should be gnawing on hard bread in Rikers Island prison right now, but now, that familiar body was not only standing on the street, but the blood flow speed was also astonishingly fast.
"Those cops took the bail money and let him out..." Matt cursed inwardly.
Not only released, this scum was actually still on Vought Company's list, vainly receiving a superpower for free.
In Matt's Super Senses, Roman's muscle fibers were emitting a faint tightening sound, leaving imperceptible deep pits on the cement ground with every step.
This bastard's heart rate exceeded one hundred and forty at this moment, filled with excitement, greed, and an undisguised violence.
"With this strength, I must tear that blind man wearing a red hood to pieces..."
Roman muttered fiercely as he walked.
Matt twirled the guide cane in his hand, his expression turning gloomy.
He had to catch Roman in the act of committing a crime, get iron-clad evidence, and then in front of all judges and media, thoroughly send this scum into a maximum-security prison, by the way using this case to force Vought Company to stop this absurd distribution.
The blind cane tapped the ground gently, and Matt opened his strides like a real blind person, hanging unhurriedly twenty meters behind Roman.
On the top floor of Vought Tower, the wind whistled howlingly at a height of one hundred meters.
Lu Chen stood by the marble guardrail at the edge of the rooftop, looking down at the crowd scattering like ants beneath his feet.
His eyebrows twitched, and he turned his head with some amusement.
"Yuheng."
"I'm here, sir." A cool prompt came from the headset.
"Are the security vigilantes of New York always so warm-hearted?" Lu Chen shook the glass in his hand, the golden-yellow liquor spinning among the ice cubes.
His spiritual perception had long covered a radius of five kilometers.
Captain America, Black Widow, and Hawkeye were tailing on the street, and that cautious look was just like three paparazzi; even funnier was the blind lawyer with red sunglasses further away, who clearly had a full set of fighting skills, yet what he was calculating in his head was actually how to go through civil litigation and criminal prosecution procedures.
Really interesting.
"Sir, does the security department need to send people to expel them?" Yuheng's voice was very calm, "Captain Rogers and Agent Romanoff are currently located on Seventh Avenue, and their behavior may interfere with our behavioral monitoring of the test subjects."
"Expel? Why expel?"
"Someone actively jumped out to help us act as a free picket squad, not only collecting zero cents in salary, but also bringing their own equipment to work. Where can you find such a good thing?"
Chapter 287: The Joining of Maya Hansen
The sound of the office door sliding open interrupted Lu Chen's interest in watching the show.
Simone walked in briskly, holding a newly printed ID card in her hand.
"Boss, the person has been brought here." Simone placed the card on the edge of the desk. "The mole planted by HYDRA inside AIM made it happen. Aldridge Killian's Base was much less guarded than expected; when she was taken out, it didn't even disturb the patrol team."
"Was she hurt?" Lu Chen asked.
"Safe and sound. Just a bit high-strung." Simone pressed her earpiece. "Bring her in."
The heavy bulletproof double doors retreated to the sides.
Two Vought security personnel in black tactical gear led a woman into the room. The woman wore a slightly wrinkled beige trench coat, her hair was loosely bunched at the back of her head, her eye sockets were bruised, and the flat leather shoes on her feet were stained with mud.
Maya Hansen stood on the patterned marble floor, looking around.
The Manhattan skyline outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was in full view, and the high-rise office's decor was simple yet exuded luxury.
"I don't get it." Maya raised her head, her fingers clutching her trench coat pockets. "That Agent who dragged me from the Miami research Base into a bulletproof SUV pulled out a special pass from the World Security Council. He said the United Nations valued my project and wanted to move me to a safer national-level laboratory. As a result, halfway through the drive, I took a sip of bottled water and fell asleep. When I woke up, I was in Manhattan."
She paused, her gaze falling on Lu Chen behind the desk.
"And if I remember correctly, this is the Vought Company. Outside on the giant screens in Times Square, it's all promotions for your company."
Lu Chen leaned back against the chair, pointing to the leather armchair opposite him.
"Sit."
Maya hesitated for two seconds, walked over, and sat down. The chair was very soft, but her spine was held very straight, with her hands resting on her knees.
"The Security Council's credentials are real, and the people who brought you out are also regular Agents, but their affiliation belongs to the past." Lu Chen didn't beat around the bush with her. "Killian's side is unsafe. The thing you're researching makes too much noise, and the Military, S.H.I.E.L.D., and even some mice hiding in the dark are staring at it. Rather than letting you die in a laboratory fire in Miami, it's better to change to a place where you can keep your life."
Maya's eyes flickered. "You want Extremis?"
"I don't like beating around the bush, Dr. Hansen." Lu Chen picked up the signature pen on the desk and spun it half a circle. "I'm giving you two paths to choose from."
Maya didn't speak, staring at him.
"First, hand over the original formula and all experimental logs of Extremis. Vought can satisfy one condition for you; whether you want immense wealth, academic reputation, or even more, name your price. After taking the items, you can leave New York and go to any country you want to spend the rest of your life."
Lu Chen paused and raised a second finger.
"Second, stay and go to work. Beneath the Vought Company are the best biological laboratories in the World, with more than enough computing power, as much rare elements and research funding as you want, and you can fill in whatever salary you like. Extremis will count as your pledge of allegiance. As long as it's not too excessive, you can make a small wish to me."
Lu Chen put the pen down. "Choose."
The office was very quiet, with only the faint sound of the central air conditioning blowing air.
Maya's fingers pressed against her knees tightened. Placed on any researcher who had been forcibly kidnapped, such conditions could be considered lenient. The other party didn't even lock her in an interrogation room and inject her with truth serum.
To Lu Chen's surprise, Maya didn't show fierce resistance to being coerced; instead, she let out a sigh of relief.
"I choose the second one," Maya spoke. "We don't even need to talk about salary."
Lu Chen looked at her with some surprise.
"You agreed quite readily."
"Because Killian is crazy." Maya shook her head, her tone carrying exhaustion. "Back then, my research couldn't find any investment institutions; the U.S. Biological Foundation felt my theory was a fantasy. Only Killian came knocking, pulling out a large amount of cash to help me establish the Advanced Idea Research Institute. At the time, I thought I had found the right partner."
She raised her hand to rub her temples.
"The original intention of Extremis was to activate human telomerase and cell self-healing and regeneration mechanisms. Once perfected, even disabled people whose limbs were blown off on the battlefield, or paralyzed patients with high paraplegia, could regrow their nerves and limbs intact. This is a technology that can change the history of modern medicine. From the very beginning, I only wanted to save people, never to kill."
Speaking of this, Maya's breathing became somewhat heavy.
"But Killian kept it from me. He directly injected the semi-finished product, which hadn't yet resolved rejection reactions and thermal energy dissipation, into the bodies of disabled veterans. With their body temperature running out of control at three thousand degrees Celsius, those living people became moving humanoid bombs, creating suicide attacks in major cities to intimidate the White House and The Pentagon to promote his private security orders. I discovered the truth, but I couldn't walk out of Miami; I was put under virtual house arrest by him. If it weren't for the fact that he still wanted to keep me to help him perfect the virus, I probably would have died long ago."
Maya raised her head and looked at Lu Chen.
"The fact that you were able to get me out from right under Killian's nose shows that your team is more professional than his. Since you're letting me state my conditions, I have two requests."
Lu Chen nodded. "Speak."
"First, stop Killian. He still has at least a hundred Extremis soldier experimental subjects in his hands. The bodies of those soldiers are extremely unstable and could self-detonate at any time. If he is allowed to continue pushing forward with his plan, the entire Washington will be blown to flat ground. The formula must be locked down, and Extremis must be completely pulled back to medical use."
Maya's voice paused, her gaze becoming complicated.
"The second matter... Extremis isn't actually the pure achievement of me alone. Thirteen years ago at a technical seminar in Bern, Switzerland, Tony Stark casually wrote an error-correction formula regarding telomere reverse transcription for me on the back of a hotel napkin. It was that formula that helped me break through the initial bottleneck."
Speaking of Tony, Maya gave a self-deprecating laugh.
"He was dead drunk that night and turned around and forgot about this matter. But I remembered it for a full thirteen years. He is an out-and-out bastard, but he is also a true genius. I want to place the truly perfected achievement right before his eyes, let him see with his own eyes just how astonishing the idea he casually scribbled on a napkin back then has been made into by me."
After hearing these two conditions, Lu Chen sat in the chair, raising his eyebrows with a peculiar expression.
Stop Killian?
Even if Maya didn't say it, that arrogant, boundlessly cocky pretty boy Killian, daring to set off bombs across the U.S. under the Banner of The Mandarin, was already on the purge list of the real Mandarin—which is Xu Wenwu, the one who single-handedly founded the Ten Rings Gang. Not to mention he still wants to take revenge on Tony; with Vibranium as the material, the armor won't be melted by his mere 3,000-degree high temperature.
As for the other condition, letting Tony witness her achievements, he should be able to witness them very soon.
A trace of absurdity even flashed through Lu Chen's mind.
This group of scientists in the Marvel Universe all had brain circuits with some degree of a savior complex or idealistic cleanliness obsession. Banner spent everyday thinking about how to control Hulk to avoid hurting the innocent, Helen Cho single-mindedly wanted to conquer the Regeneration Cradle to benefit humanity, and now another Maya Hansen with a heart for all disabled humanity had run over.
They were all good-natured people.
However, this kind of person was much easier to manage than pure ambitious schemers. As long as they were given enough experimental resources and humanitarian excuses, they could stay in the laboratory until the end of time.
"Neither of these two things is a difficult task." Lu Chen spoke, interrupting Maya's train of thought. "Killian won't live much longer. As for Tony Stark, once your project is done, I can have him come over in person to cut the ribbon."
Chapter 288: Preparing to Act, Preparing to Act
Maya's eyes lit up for a fraction of a second.
"However." Lu Chen raised his hand and tapped the desk, the crisp sound causing Maya's expression to turn solemn.
"There are some rules I need to make clear to you beforehand." Lu Chen stared into her eyes. "Vought Company can fully fund the civilian medical promotion of Extremis for you, and even establish a charitable rehabilitation foundation globally under your name, letting you win the Nobel Prize in Medicine."
Lu Chen leaned forward, and a sense of oppression spread within the extremely short distance.
"But before doing all this, you need to strip out the cell regeneration technology of Extremis and integrate it into Vought Company's current flagship project. I want to use your achievements to strengthen my human enhancement serum, understood?"
Maya was stunned.
She had originally thought Lu Chen would be like other capitalists, hypocritically promising everything with "We only do peaceful research," only to turn around and secretly force her to work on Military projects. But the young man in front of her couldn't even be bothered to pretend, directly throwing the purpose of the human enhancement serum onto the table.
"Are you also trying to create super soldiers?" Maya asked.
"No." Lu Chen straightened up. "Killian made super soldiers to sell arms and make a fortune from war. And I am doing this so that when the people on this Planet face the next alien fleet invasion, they at least don't have to cower in air-raid shelters waiting to die."
Maya fell silent.
At least Lu Chen did not deceive her, nor did he conceal the violence.
"I understand." Maya took a deep breath and nodded. "As long as we don't use live human self-detonation tests, and it's purely cross-technology research and development, I can accept it."
"A wise choice." Lu Chen stood up.
"Yuheng."
"I'm here, Sir." The artificial intelligence's electronic voice fell from the dome, startling Maya.
"Grant Dr. Hansen research clearance, take her to the biomedical laboratory, and arrange for her to liaise with Dr. Helen Cho. The Regeneration Cradle and the original concept of Extremis are quite similar, the two of them should have a lot to talk about."
"Command recorded, elevator permissions activated."
Looking down at Maya, Lu Chen casually said, "Focus on your research. Those two little wishes you mentioned will both be realized before long."
Maya stood up, nodded at Lu Chen with a complex expression, and retreated from the office following the entering security personnel.
The heavy alloy door locked shut once again.
Lu Chen walked back to the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the streets beneath his feet.
The holographic screen on the desk flickered, and Yuheng switched the surveillance footage.
"Sir, there is new feedback from the surveillance near Times Square. Two minutes ago, the target 'Roman' among the first batch of test subjects left the main road and entered the abandoned warehouse area on the west side of Eighth Avenue."
On the screen, the burly, fierce-looking, bald punk was striding through the dark alley.
And in the shadows dozens of meters behind him, a figure leaning on a blind cane was trailing behind unhurriedly.
On the holographic projection screen, Roman's greasy, large face was firmly locked in a red frame.
A small line of text jumped at the corner of the screen: Compound V activity in the body is stable, danger level, Upper C-grade.
Lu Chen tapped his fingers twice on the desk.
"Alright, stop just watching the show." Without turning his head, Lu Chen said to Simone standing behind him, "Have our people follow them."
The corners of Simone's mouth twitched, and a pre-prepared smile flashed in her eyes: "Field Agents are already waiting downstairs."
"Remember to make it clear, wherever those spies want to run, let them run, don't worry about them." Lu Chen picked up his water glass and took a sip. "They finally got the samples and are in a rush to go back and report to their masters. We must be humanitarian and let them go."
The samples brought back by these small fry would only plunge the Military and major conglomerates into a more fanatical arms race anxiety, and Lu Chen was happy to see it happen.
What he wanted to catch were these chickens who couldn't hold back their malice.
"As for this bunch of punks who want to act like kings the moment they get power..." Lu Chen sneered. "After stripping away their power, throw them out for the outside world to judge."
"Understood."
Simone neatly tapped twice on the tactical tablet, directly issuing instructions to the team in the underground garage.
The rolling shutter door of the underground garage rose with a rumble.
Dozens of unassuming black Explorers headed separately into various streets.
Inside the vehicles, the operation code was sent to everyone's device.
Each team consisted of three people: an enhanced Agent who had been injected with Compound V and gained an LV3 Super Physique acting as a meat shield, assisted by two ordinary Agents equipped with heavy firepower and restraint equipment.
Most crucially, there was a lockbox around their waists lined with pure lead and wrapped in high-density zinc alloy on the outside.
Inside were the radiant magic metals given by Lu Chen.
This was the tight hoop curse Lu Chen left for all the enhanced individuals.
Deep in the shady narrow alley of Eighth Avenue.
Roman swung his thick arms, stepping on rotten vegetable leaves full of stagnant water.
Fine cracking sounds were coming from his bones, like tens of thousands of little ants rushing through his blood vessels, bringing a continuous stream of heat.
"Damn it, I can flip a car with one punch now."
Roman cracked his knuckles, making popping sounds, and the flesh on his face trembled wildly with excitement.
He turned out of the alley, and in front of him was a 7-Eleven convenience store lit with dim yellow light.
Shops opened in such chaotic neighborhoods had thumb-thick anti-riot iron wire meshes welded all over the outside of the counter, leaving only a small window for passing cash.
In the past, every time Roman passed by, he wished he could take a chainsaw to cut open the iron mesh.
Not anymore.
Roman grinned viciously and pushed open the glass door, the doorbell making a crisp ding-dong sound.
The young clerk counting coins behind the counter was startled, looked up, and stammered, "Sir... Sir, what would you like to buy?"
"Your life, how does that sound?"
Roman strode up to the counter, grabbing the alloy protective net with both hands, which claimed to be able to prevent close-range shotgun blasts.
"Hey! Don't move, I'm calling the police!" The clerk touched the alarm button under the table in panic.
Rip!
The sound of metal snapping exploded in the narrow store.
The veins on Roman's arms bulged like earthworms, and the expansion bolts with hundreds of kilograms of tensile strength were forcibly pulled out from the cement countertop by the roots.
The anti-riot net was twisted into a lump of scrap iron, which he casually threw on the ground, smashing a large area of potato chip shelves.
"Ah! Oh God!" The clerk was so frightened that he hugged his head and squatted on the ground.
Roman stepped over the cash register, grabbed the clerk's collar in his large hand, and prepared to smash this noisy guy's head onto the cash register.
Whoosh!
A fiercely dangerous wind suddenly brushed past the back of his head.
Roman reacted several times faster than before, his head violently tilting to one side.
A red and black metal baton flew past his ear, and with a bang, it deeply gouged into the cigarette cabinet behind him, sending cigarette packs flying all over the sky.
"Who the hell is looking for death?" Roman roared in anger, violently turning around.
In front of the convenience store's broken glass door, a figure wearing dark red form-fitting armor and a double-horned mask stood steadily in the shadows.
Daredevil.
Chapter 289: Meddling in Other People's Business
Roman paused for half a second, then burst into wild laughter.
"Ha! Hahaha!" Roman let go of the terrified clerk, raised his hand to wipe a smear of saliva from the corner of his mouth, "I was wondering who it was. Isn't this that red-skinned rat who goes around meddling in other people's business?"
The murderous glare in Roman's eyes was almost overflowing.
Two months ago, it was this guy who broke his bones with a stick in a dark alley and sent him to the police station.
"I was just thinking of looking for you, and you delivered yourself right to my doorstep!"
Roman let out an angry roar, the floor tiles beneath his feet instantly shattered under his kick, and he swung his sand-bucket-sized fist straight at Daredevil's face.
Matt's expression beneath his mask didn't look too good.
This guy's physical fitness had completely changed.
Hearing the fist hurtling right before his eyes, Matt didn't take it head-on.
With a sudden low sliding tackle across the muddy floor, his body brushed past Roman's armpit, and he took the opportunity to reach out and pull out the metal short sticks embedded in the wall.
With a pull of both hands, the short sticks snapped into two pieces with a click under the mechanism's latch.
Stick's mixed martial arts teachings reached their absolute limit at this moment.
Matt flipped up, the twin short sticks in his hands turning into a sky full of afterimages, viciously slamming toward Roman's surrounding joints with a sound piercing the air.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The two sections of the short stick struck with pinpoint accuracy against Roman's temple, jaw, and the carotid artery on the side of his neck.
If it were an ordinary person, taking this combo would have long since caused a concussion and knocked them unconscious.
But the feel was wrong.
Matt only felt his thumbs and forefingers go numb, as if he was holding a solid iron rod and fiercely striking a compressed rubber tire; the huge recoil shook the bones in his arms until they ached.
Yet Roman didn't even sway a bit; he was merely beaten until his skin turned red.
Instead, the pain completely ignited his ferocity, and he lashed back with a fierce horizontal swinging punch.
Wind pressure howled.
Matt raised his twin sticks in a cross block.
Boom!
The instant the fist smashed into the intersection of the short sticks, Matt flew backward entirely.
His spine heavily slammed into the cement utility pole outside, the pain making sweat stream straight down his chin.
Matt knelt on one knee in the muddy water, panting heavily, a trace of blood oozing from the corner of his mouth.
No good.
Ordinary strikes simply couldn't break through the defense.
He cursed silently in his heart.
The no-kill principle he adhered to had become a fatal chain at this moment.
In order not to shatter the opponent's throat, in order not to pierce the eyeball straight into the brain, every strike he made was avoiding fatal pressure points.
Yet facing such a thick-skinned, enhanced monster, if he didn't hit the fatal weaknesses, he would sooner or later be worn down to death.
Did he really have to break his bottom line and deal lethal blows here?
Matt's hands holding the short sticks began to tremble, his inner self falling into extreme struggle.
"What's the matter? Red Hood, stand up and keep fighting!"
Roman laughed wildly as he strode out of the convenience store, smashing his fists together to produce a dull thud like clashing metal and iron: "Today, I'm going to crush every single bone in your body to pieces and throw you into the Hudson River to feed the fish!"
Just at the moment Roman was about to pounce and snap Matt's neck,
a harsh screeching of brakes abruptly sounded at the alley entrance.
The car doors popped open, and three figures wearing Vought security uniforms walked out expressionlessly.
In reality, this squad had watched the show for a full two minutes by the roadside.
They originally thought this quite famous street vigilante in New York could directly take him down, but found that this person seemed to have fallen into some kind of entanglement, so they had to step forward to take over.
The wild laughter on Roman's face froze.
Looking at that familiar Vought black uniform, his heart inexplicably shrank.
The shadow of the hundreds of energy cannons witnessed earlier in the hall instantly surfaced in his mind.
"Vought's people?"
Roman gritted his teeth, knowing that his current state wouldn't gain any advantage against regular armed forces. His eyes flickered, his body violently twisted, and he turned to drill back into the convenience store, attempting to drag out the clerk cowering behind the counter as a hostage.
As long as he had a hostage in hand, he could negotiate terms to escape Manhattan.
However, the Vought Agent's reaction was faster than imagination.
The leading enhanced Agent instead retreated dozens of meters, while those two ordinary Agents with extremely skilled movements reached out to press their waists, pulling out a zinc-alloy box exuding a dull luster.
Clack!
The box latch popped open.
The Agent couldn't even be bothered to aim, exerting force in his arm, directly throwing the box containing radioactive metal into the convenience store's entrance.
The metal box rolled twice on the floor, stopping beside the shelves.
Just as Roman grabbed the edge of the cash register, his peripheral vision swept across that inconspicuous small box, and he couldn't help sneering: "Throwing a broken iron box to scare who..."
Before he finished speaking, Roman's expression violently distorted.
An indescribable soreness spread like a tidal wave from deep within his bone marrow.
The explosive power that had originally flooded his limbs and bones, seemingly endless, leaked wildly like a bathtub with its plug pulled out.
His muscles began to relax, and his heart rate plummeted abruptly.
"No... No! This is impossible!"
Roman screamed in terror, looking at his own hands. The five fingers that could crush steel just moments ago were now actually unable to even break the plastic casing of the cash register.
That despair of having experienced god-like power only to be forcefully stripped back down to a mortal was far more painful than killing him directly.
"Give me back my power! Give it back to me!"
Roman fell to his knees on the ground, tears and snot streaming as he reached out toward the box, his voice shrill like a madman.
Swish!
The sound of piercing air rang out.
A tranquilizer dart precisely pierced the back of Roman's neck.
Roman's eyes violently rolled upward, and he collapsed face down onto the cola-stained floor, passing out.
Two ordinary Vought Agents strode into the convenience store.
One of them bent down to pack up the metal box on the ground, securely locked the latch seamlessly, and hung it back onto his waist.
The other took out a gold-stamped claim business card from his jacket pocket and gently placed it in front of the terrified clerk.
"The property losses caused by the subject losing control will be fully borne by Vought Company. Send the surveillance footage and loss inventory to this person, and we will compensate at 1.5 times the market price."
The clerk blankly clutched the business card, lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.
The two Agents dragged Roman like a dead dog, each pulling an ankle, and casually dragged him out of the store.
Matt leaned against the utility pole, his chest heaving violently.
His extraordinary Super Senses, in this extremely oppressive silence, unhinderedly captured the lowered-voice whispers of those Agents.
"Did the body-worn camera capture the whole process?"
"Captured completely, from him destroying the riot net to the peak data of using his ability, it's all inside."
"What about that guy outside in the red tights? Should we verify his identity and take him back along the way?"
"Doesn't matter, forget it. The higher-ups ordered that we only need to take care of these subjects."
The low roar of the engine sounded in the alley, quickly disappearing around the street corner.
Matt slowly stood up from the mud pit, gripping the two deformed sections of the short sticks in his hands, his whole body completely submerged by an unprecedented sense of absurdity.
To uphold so-called procedural justice and stick to his inner moral bottom line, he fought desperately to the death and almost lost his life.
Yet in the eyes of Vought Company, in the eyes of that man named Lu Chen, these thugs were merely a string of data that could be recycled at any time.
And what he did was even like meddling in other people's business.
"Fuck!"
Chapter 290: The Helpless Trio
Near the intersection of Seventh Avenue, a gray Chevrolet turned off its engine and parked quietly on the side of the road.
It was very quiet inside the car.
Steve Rogers had both hands resting on the steering wheel, his gaze penetrating the explosion-proof film of the windshield as he stared at an underground gambling den diagonally across.
In the passenger seat next to him, Natasha was looking down and trimming her nails with a nail clipper, without even lifting her eyelids.
A faint static sound came from the communicator in the back seat.
Barton was lying prone on top of a water tower five hundred meters away, holding a specially made compound bow in his hands, cold wind pouring into his collar as he sniffed.
"Captain, target number three has come out," Barton said in a low voice, "That's the leader of the biker gang who was just bailed out of Rikers Island last week. Just now in the alley, he used one hand to throw a two-hundred-plus-pound doorman flying six meters away, and now he's heading toward the vault with two people."
Steve's gaze sank.
He and Natasha had been staking out this street for a full three hours.
Compared to that Daredevil who had debuted not long ago and was still somewhat prone to acting on impulse, Steve and the others were much more patient.
He knew that talking to Lu Chen with just mere words was meaningless; after all, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s reputation with Lu Chen was rotten to the core.
Only by catching irrefutable evidence of this group of villains who had injected the serum committing crimes in the street would he have the confidence to talk properly with Lu Chen.
"Get ready to move in," Steve groped for the round shield under the passenger seat, "We need a confession and a complete criminal record."
"Understood." Natasha put away the nail clipper, a pair of stun guns sliding out from her palms.
However, before Steve could push open the car door, two unmarked black full-sized SUVs directly blocked the entrance of the underground gambling den.
The car doors popped open, and six Vought security personnel wearing black tactical suits jumped down.
The biker gang leader at the entrance of the gambling den froze for a moment, then grinned maliciously and ripped off his leather jacket, the muscles on his arms swelling up like balloons while his bones made a strange popping sound.
"Vought's people? Perfect, I was just thinking of going back to ask you for a few more shots..."
He couldn't even finish his harsh words.
The leading Vought Agent had no intention of talking nonsense with him at all.
A dusty metal box was casually tossed out, sliding a straight track on the concrete ground and stopping steadily at the big man's feet.
The box lid popped open.
The biker gang leader, who had been fierce and menacing the previous second, suddenly froze.
A few seconds later, he couldn't even stand steadily; his knees went soft, and he dropped to his knees in the pit with a thump.
Whoosh!
An anesthetic bullet nailed into his chest.
The big man rolled his eyes and collapsed like a pile of mud.
The remaining two punks were scared out of their wits, and just as they wanted to raise their hands to surrender, they were directly knocked down by two stun batons.
The entire capture took less than twenty seconds.
Two Agents skillfully tied the person into a zongzi with restraint straps and shoved him into the trunk.
Another Agent pulled a card from his pocket, shoved it to the stunned homeless man nearby, and then the car doors closed tightly as the two SUVs turned around, merged into the traffic, and ran away without a trace.
On the rooftop water tower, Barton slowly lowered the compound bow in his hands, the corners of his mouth twitching twice.
"Alright, Captain," Barton sighed into the headset, his tone full of absurdity, "It seems we blew cold wind here for half a day, purely doing useless work for nothing."
Inside the car, Steve's fingers gripping the car door handle slowly loosened.
He leaned back against the seat, letting out a self-deprecating laugh.
"Yeah," Steve shook his head, his heart full of helplessness, "It seems Lu Chen is much steadier than we thought. He had long anticipated that someone would cause trouble, and even prepared the response chain."
What on earth was that gray metal box?
It could actually beat a superpowered individual back to their original form within a few seconds.
This terrifying control was even more airtight than S.H.I.E.L.D. at its peak.
"Alright, everyone get ready to call it a day," Steve rubbed his brow, "If there's no movement after staring a bit longer, we'll disband."
Natasha leaned against the car window, looking at the blinking red beacon light at the top of Vought Tower in the distance, her gaze complex.
"That young man never seems to do a losing business," she said softly.
Several thousand meters above in the high sky, S.H.I.E.L.D.'s airborne command aircraft flew steadily through the clouds.
Beside the long conference table inside the cabin, the atmosphere appeared somewhat strange.
Pietro sat on the outermost barstool, his two feet dangling in mid-air as he chewed on chocolate beans he dug out from the pantry, staring blankly straight at the ventilation duct on the ceiling.
This Super Speedster forcibly shoved in by Lu Chen clearly had no interest in the serious atmosphere of S.H.I.E.L.D..
Coulson stood in front of the holographic projection table, pulling up several encrypted files.
"Everyone look here," Coulson cleared his throat, his gentle voice breaking the silence, "According to the information Mr. Pietro just shared, we have finally sorted out the cause of the Skrulls incident."
Ward stood in the corner with his arms crossed, and Mei leaned against the sliding door of the cockpit with a blank expression.
Skye sat cross-legged on the swivel chair, her fingers sliding quickly across the tablet computer.
"So," Coulson brought up a somewhat blurry photo of a white scholar, "The Skrulls had a direct conflict with Mr. Lu because they kidnapped a geneticist from Vought Company. It seems the breakthrough of this matter still lies with this scientist."
Coulson synchronized and distributed the data to everyone's terminals.
Skye lowered her head to glance over it twice, her brows gradually furrowing.
"Wait," Skye raised her head with doubt in her eyes, "The data also says that when these aliens were escaping, they conveniently took away various gene samples secretly collected by S.H.I.E.L.D. over the past few years? Including the leftover blood of Hulk, and even some cell fragments of Asgardians?"
Skye shrugged and couldn't help complaining: "What on earth do these green-skinned lizards want to do? Make an alien hotchpotch salad?"
"What they want is power," Ward took over the conversation in a deep voice.
Ward stepped forward, pointing at the data on the screen: "Mere disguise and concealment can only let them hide in the dark. But if they can analyze the genes of these top powerhouses, combined with that geneticist's in-vivo technology, they can create super soldiers possessing multiple superpowers."
Mei coldly added a sentence: "By then, they won't need to hide."
The cabin suddenly quieted down.
If a group of aliens who could change their appearance at will were really allowed to master power at the level of Hulk, the order of the World would become a piece of waste paper.
"We must find their lair before they complete integration," Coulson nodded, "Does everyone have any ideas?"
Chapter 291: Two-Pronged Approach
Mei crossed her arms and briefly spat out a few words: "Facial comparison."
Skye's eyes lit up, and she instantly understood Mei's meaning: "Right! The files say that the Skrulls' shapeshifting ability isn't conjured out of thin air; they can only transform into human faces they've seen with their own eyes. If they're a large-scale gathered community, it's impossible for them to kill every single person they imitate. That would trigger massive missing person cases and would have already alerted the police."
Skye's fingers tapped a blur across the keyboard: "As long as I write an algorithm to crawl major global airports, stations, and municipal surveillance, looking for targets who appear in different places during the same time period but have completely identical faces—as long as there's an overlap, that's the Skrulls' flaw!"
"This method is viable, but it needs time to screen," Ward added, speaking up. "We also need a second plan: material flow monitoring."
Ward looked at Coulson: "If it's truly as we speculated, that they're secretly developing super soldiers, that's definitely not something that can be handled by setting up a rack in an Underground Room. They must purchase a massive amount of biological reaction reagents, gamma radiation generators, high-pressure constant-temperature culture pods, and massive amounts of human experimentation consumables."
"All of these things are on the regulated list of international conventions," Coulson nodded approvingly. "Whether it's the black market or the smuggling channels of multinational pharmaceutical companies, as long as they use these equipment, they will definitely leave traces of funds and logistics. By focusing on tracking the abnormal flow of radioactive materials and large-scale biological instruments, we can follow the trail."
Both directions were very clear, logically rigorous, and without a single flaw to pick out.
Coulson breathed a slight sigh of relief inwardly.
This team's cooperation was even more tacit than he expected; even with Fitz and Simmons missing, the framework still hadn't collapsed.
However, Coulson didn't immediately issue the execution order.
He turned his head to look at the silver-haired youth who was tossing the last chocolate bean into his mouth.
Coulson wore a polite yet cautious smile on his face, leaning forward slightly as he tentatively asked: "Mr. Pietro, what do you think of our plan? Is there anything that needs to be added?"
Coulson asked very politely.
But what he was thinking inside was far more complicated than that.
Pietro was a spy sent over by Lu Chen, and asking for Pietro's opinion was actually a disguised probing of Lu Chen's attitude.
How many clues about the Skrulls the Vought Company had mastered, and where Lu Chen's bottom line was regarding S.H.I.E.L.D.'s interference, all hinged on this young man's answer.
However, Pietro didn't have any of the twisted, scheming inner thoughts of S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents.
He was staring blankly at the ceiling, wondering in his mind when to go try that newly opened hot dog shop in Manhattan.
Hearing Coulson call his name, Pietro snapped back to reality abruptly.
The chocolate in his mouth hadn't been swallowed yet, and he almost choked. He scratched his head somewhat awkwardly, his eyes drifting as he sized up the group of Agents staring at him.
"Ah? Oh... Uh." Pietro blinked twice and perfunctorily brushed it off: "I think it's pretty good. Pretty thorough, let's get started."
After speaking, he even gave Coulson a thumbs-up.
There was dead silence in the cabin.
Ward's eye twitched slightly, while Mei silently turned her head to look out the window, and Skye was already about to lose it.
The smile on Coulson's face completely froze.
He raised his right hand, rubbed his forehead hard, and felt that his hairline seemed to have receded by another half an inch.
All for naught.
This kid was purely a fast-running hothead who couldn't understand subtext at all.
"Fine." Coulson sighed, clapped his hands to pull everyone's attention back, "Then according to the plan, let's go!"
Simone stepped in high heels into the office and placed a thick file on the wide desk.
"Boss, the commotion outside has subsided," Simone said in a calm tone, raising a hand to tidy the stray hair at her temples, "A total of thirty-seven restless guys were caught back. As you instructed, before taking action, we recorded the complete criminal motives and surveillance footage for all of them. The chain of evidence is so complete that not a single flaw can be found."
Lu Chen casually flipped open the first page.
Stuck on it was Roman's bruised and battered mugshot, underneath which was a clear case summary and loss inventory.
"What about that street vigilante?" Lu Chen took a sip of coffee and asked casually.
"He's been doubting life in the alley," Simone's lips curled up slightly, "When our people withdrew, he was still daze-stricken. I guess this Daredevil has never seen such a rule-abiding cleanup process in his life."
"Holding onto a bottom line is a good thing, but if the bottom line becomes a burden, getting beaten up is well deserved."
Lu Chen chuckled softly, his finger sliding across the paper surface, and flipped to the summary table of subject abilities further back.
Five thousand quotas; most people awakened only Super Physique, and the few who awakened Super Physique plus other superpowers were just mediocre fire-starting and Super Speed.
A trace of boredom flashed in Lu Chen's eyes.
His current foundation was frighteningly thick, his body having fused multiple top-tier abilities, and his Mystic Arts had long since been pushed to LV6. Such low-tier abilities might be a pie falling from the sky that made one step into the heavens for ordinary people, but to him, he couldn't even be bothered to touch them. What he wanted were powerful abilities like reality-illusion switching or teleportation. Low levels could be strengthened using Sam's blood or even V1 before Copy, but for these conventional abilities, he wasn't kind enough to exchange his Immortality for them.
"It seems the probability of fishing out a big fish among five thousand people is still a bit too low." Lu Chen closed the folder and threw it back on the desk.
Meals must be eaten one bite at a time.
"Continue to push forward the subsequent injection plan. Keep a close eye on the new version of Compound V being researched by Helen Cho and Maya Hansen on their side."
The extraordinary transformation of all humanity was a predetermined major trend. As long as the two paths were pushed forward step by step, he only needed to stand at the apex of the pyramid and quietly wait to harvest.
Simone nodded, tactfully not disturbing him any further, hugged the files, and turned to exit the office.
Lu Chen stood up, walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down condescendingly at the street view of Manhattan.
Counting the days, the mages responsible for guarding the major sanctuaries over at Kamar-Taj had just recently reached the node where it was their turn to rotate back to the mountain for rest and recuperation.
"For LV6 Mystic Arts, wanting to advance further by figuring it out on one's own is indeed a bit slow. It's also time to head over and shear some wool."
Of course, the best target was still Ancient One.
That Sorcerer Supreme possessed experience and forbidden spells that were truly a bottomless abyss.
Thinking of Ancient One, Lu Chen couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed.
When practicing at Kamar-Taj before, whenever Lu Chen tried to get close or even wanted to find an opportunity to create some physical contact to trigger the ability Copy, Ancient One would always sidestep extremely naturally, not even letting him touch the corner of her clothes.
Not only that, after dodging every time, Ancient One would also turn her head and quietly size him up with an inscrutable, meaningful gaze.
That kind of look seemed to say silently: "I know what you want to do, but I just won't let you touch me."
"This old bald head has definitely seen through my background long ago," Lu Chen couldn't help muttering inwardly.
His Copy ability caused no negative damage to the target itself, neither draining the other's lifespan nor weakening the other's origin, purely copying a Copy out of thin air. Since Ancient One knew, yet specifically guarded against him, what kind of opportunity was she waiting for?
Chapter 292
Does he have to wait until she is on her deathbed before she is willing to leave her powers behind?
"No, I have to find a way to probe her intentions indirectly this trip. What's the deal with keeping me hanging like this all the time?"
Lu Chen made up his mind, raised his right hand, pressed his index and middle fingers together, and skillfully began drawing circles in the air in front of him.
Faint golden sparks leaped at his fingertips, ripples of magic stirred in the void, and the outline of a circular portal was rapidly taking shape.
However, just as the frame of the portal was about to solidify completely, a sudden change occurred.
Hum!
The air let out a muffled sound, and the golden sparks, like charcoal Fire doused by cold Water, suddenly scattered and dissipated.
At the same time, a sharp pain erupted without warning from deep within Lu Chen's body!
"Ugh!"
Lu Chen let out a muffled grunt, staggered a step, and steadied himself against the mahogany desk beside him.
Wisps of chaotic energy—deep red, pitch black, and eerie purple—like long-lurking vipers, frantically drilled out from the deepest parts of his bone marrow and internal organs, savagely gnawing at his flesh and blood!
A layer of eerie light spots instantly appeared on the surface of his skin, veins bulging violently as if they were about to burst at any moment.
"The debt collectors have come knocking..."
Lu Chen gritted his teeth, a layer of cold sweat seeping from his forehead.
Not a single practitioner of Mystic Arts could escape this ordeal. The underlying logic of Mystic Arts spells was borrowing. Mages borrowed power from different dimensional deities to cast powerful magic; the more they borrowed, the deeper they fell into debt. If it were like ordinary mages who only dealt with White magic—meaning using the power of the Vishanti—usually these small bills could be repaid through meditation and cultivation, and heavy borrowers would only face a reckoning after death. However, Lu Chen had been borrowing everywhere recently, and not from just one place. This was akin to a poor guy who had just opened an account maxing out hundreds of billions on credit cards overnight.
The creditors from the major dimensions finally couldn't help but team up to smash down the door and demand payment.
Deafening whispers suddenly rang out from the depths of Lu Chen's mind.
Most eerie of all was a boundless pitch-black abyss where Dormammu's will roared frantically. Cold laws of contract, like strands of black iron chains, attempted to lock down his soul core:
[ Pledged ownership of your soul... Mortal! Regularly offer your vital life essence, or plunge into eternal darkness! ]
On the other side, Cyttorak of the Crimson Universe likewise cast down an extremely violent consciousness. A thick desire for destruction and the impulse to slaughter poured into his brain like scalding magma, frantically urging him to transform into a killing machine:
[ Become the proxy of the Crimson! Flatten this World for me! Tear apart all order! ]
There was also the purple unknown dimension, similarly greedily pulling at his psychological defense line.
Several chaotic and violent consciousnesses tore frantically in his mind. If an ordinary mage encountered this level of backlash, they probably wouldn't even last half a second before their soul was completely plundered, reducing them to a shell fought over by several deities.
But Lu Chen was no ordinary mage.
"Debt collectors coming to hound me?"
Lu Chen panted heavily, his gaze turning fierce amidst the pain.
His physical body had undergone multiple enhancements, and its formidable degree was comparable to a humanoid behemoth; his mental power was even vaster and tougher than a boulder. Wanting to crush his consciousness with this bit of borrowing backlash was simply a pipe dream!
The energy within his body fully revived, and the depths of his cells erupted with terrifying vitality. Like rows of steel floodgates, they guarded every inch of his body's meridians and internal organs without yielding an inch, forcefully withstanding the first round of fierce attacks from the several chaotic dimensions.
However, relying solely on his physical body to resist was definitely not a long-term solution. If the external magic power kept rampaging inside his body, it would not only continuously damage his nerves but even completely destroy his spellcasting foundation.
He couldn't panic.
Lu Chen took a deep breath, sat cross-legged right in the center of the carpet, and placed his hands flat on his knees naturally.
He closed his eyes and concentrated his mind.
The massive amount of knowledge and spellcasting experience learned from those old mages of Kamar-Taj flashed through his mind like a revolving lantern at this moment, being rapidly filtered.
When dealing with usury, the best method was to find a big, rule-abiding bank to balance the accounts.
"Communicate with the Vishanti."
Lu Chen's mind stirred, and he immediately discarded all distracting thoughts, adjusting his spiritual frequency to an extremely pure state, and began to call out to the most orderly White holy light in the multiverse.
Agamotto, Oshtur, Hoggoth.
The Trinity of Order power of the Vishanti had always been known for its stability, impartiality, and peacefulness. In the borrowing system of the Mystic Arts, the Vishanti was the only legal official bank.
A soft yet majestic White light faintly lit up above the office.
This pure White light ignored the barrier of the physical dimensions and shone directly onto the crown of Lu Chen's head. Lu Chen formed hand seals with his ten fingers, executing the highest-tier purification spell he knew within his body.
"In the name of the Vishanti, order banishes chaos!"
Lu Chen let out a low roar in his heart.
The White order power turned into gentle yet indestructible waves, fiercely flushing down his meridians.
Two completely opposing energies collided head-on within his body.
The chaotic darkness, bloodthirsty crimson, and greedy purple mist, when encountering the ultimate pure force of order, were like red-hot iron blocks dropping into cold Water, making a harsh sizzling sound.
This was by no means pleasant.
Although the magic power of the order dimension was gentle, the process of acting as a detergent inside the body and forcibly stripping away foreign energy still brought intense pain akin to meridians being scorched by raging Fire.
However, this physical trauma was not worth mentioning to his powerful self-healing constitution. Without even uttering a grunt, he gritted his teeth and forcibly urged the order White light, scouring his soul and physical body over and over again.
Hiss!
Wisps of foul-smelling black Qi and blood-colored smoke were forcibly expelled from his body through the pores around Lu Chen. As soon as they touched the air, they were completely purified and annihilated by the White light in the air.
Dormammu's roars grew more and more distant, and Cyttorak's destructive will also retreated steadily under the scouring of order, ultimately being slowly extracted from his sea of consciousness.
This smokeless war inside the body lasted for nearly half an hour.
The last wisp of purple impurities was forced out of his body, and the White light in the air gradually faded away.
Lu Chen let out a long breath and slowly opened his eyes.
The riots that originally filled his body had completely subsided, and the injuries in his meridians were healing rapidly under the action of his self-healing ability. However, deep in the core of his body, an extremely tiny, grayish energy seed still remained.
That was the imprint left by the major deities that could not be completely erased.
The domineering contract that had originally been aggressive, forcing him to hand over his soul and body to pay in full, was beaten down into an insignificant installment bill under the intervention of the Vishanti's laws of order and his violent confrontation with his formidable strength.
This seed was the voucher.
"Don't even think about settling in full. In this life, I only accept indefinite installments."
Lu Chen raised his hand to wipe away a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. Borrowing magic power from deities and not returning it was indeed a big trouble in the Marvel Universe, but as long as one's fists were hard enough, even usurers had to sit down and honestly discuss an installment repayment plan with him.
This forcible pacification of the backlash not only did not hurt his foundation, but instead took his control over the magic power within his body to a higher level.
"If you dare to come smash the door for debts again, I'll continue to do installments with you and see who outlasts whom."