140. Natasha on the Offensive, Sharon Restored to Her Virginity (An 8,000-Word Chapter—Thanks to Patron Huang Brothers)

As for Aldrich Killian, Su Ye only needed to give him a motive and a direction. The rest he could work out on his own.

The laboratory was another matter. Su Ye disliked listening to Barton ramble, but he still had to pay attention to the condition of the Widow and Doctor Connors after their Extremis injections.

The Extremis they had received was the permanent medical variant.

In theory, a single treatment could repair every injury an organism had suffered, including severed limbs, removed organs, and various hidden internal wounds.

Moreover, it only needed to be used once, with benefits lasting a lifetime. There would be no possibility of a relapse.

Before long, both injections were complete. Just as Doctor Connors had predicted, the Extremis took effect without any side effects and completely restored their bodies.

When Doctor Connors stepped down from the operating table and looked at his newly regrown left arm, tears of excitement streamed down his face.

After several decades, he could finally trim his own fingernails. He could finally shift gears by himself. He could finally use both hands to drive a train while buying his secretary a boxed lunch.

These were things he had dreamed of doing countless times.

“Thank you, Mr. Su. Thank you. Truly, thank you!”

After leaving the laboratory, Doctor Connors gripped Su Ye’s hand, too excited to form a complete sentence.

After trembling for quite some time, he finally managed to regain control of his emotions.

“Mr. Su, Boss Su, Chief Su—starting today, I’m yours. If there’s any project in this laboratory that needs me, just give the order.”

“These two healthy hands were given back to me by you. I’ll spend the rest of my life proving that your gift was worthwhile!”

Ding! A blue-grade researcher, Curt Connors, has been acquired. Current loyalty: Aldrich Killian—questionable...

Su Ye silently improvised the system notification in his mind, but his face wore a smile as warm as spring sunshine.

“Doctor Connors, there’s no need to put it that way. You’re Gwen’s mentor and my teacher as well. From now on, this biological laboratory will be relying on you.”

“Also, since we’ve already invested so much time, effort, and money into the lizard gene research, we shouldn’t abandon it lightly. I still hope we can produce some results.”

A complete lizard gene might not be possible, but developing the unfinished version from the movie should not be too difficult.

In the film, after Doctor Connors was stabbed in the back by Oscorp and lost his funding, he was forced to risk injecting himself with the unfinished lizard formula. The result was a tragic transformation into a lizard, but it also gave birth to a magnificent idea.

He would spread the lizard gene throughout the entire city using an aerosol device. If everyone became lizards, then his own existence would no longer seem so strange.

Everyone knew what happened afterward. The second Spider-Man stopped that glorious plan—and casually took his future father-in-law down with it.

Now, Su Ye could help Doctor Connors fulfill that unfinished dream.

What? Doctor Connors no longer had such a dream?

No. He would.

And even if he did not, someone else would.

The Joker, for example.

That was right—the Joker again.

That man was terrified that the world might remain peaceful. The moment he heard about the lizard gene, he would certainly do everything possible to obtain it and spread it across the city.

The only question was: which city would be best?

When it came to viruses, the most famous city was naturally Raccoon City.

Where had Raccoon City’s original inspiration come from again? Toronto, right? That was in Canada, not the United States.

But it did not matter. Canada and the United States were practically wearing the same pair of pants, natural allies bound together by geography and culture.

So they were all the same.

While Su Ye was mentally racing along like a runaway train, planning the spread of the lizard gene, the Widow suddenly walked over.

“Thank you, Uncle Su!”

Reason told the Widow that she ought to remain reserved and polite, and conduct herself with as much dignity as possible.

But at that moment, after losing something and then receiving it back, after becoming whole again, she could no longer care about any of that.

“Thank you for making me whole again.”

The Widow threw her arms around Su Ye. Tears immediately soaked through the front of his clothes.

Who said a female agent could not have feelings? Who said she could not lose control and cry her eyes out?

Su Ye’s hands froze in midair. He had no idea where to put them.

He wanted to shout, “Referee, she’s fouling!”

Su Ye had already established his position, and his feet had not moved. He had not even made a forward motion with his body. The opposing player had charged straight into him. It was an obvious offensive foul.

Unfortunately, the referee, Gwen, chose not to see it. Not only did she fail to call the offensive foul, she even gave Su Ye an encouraging look.

Barton had already told Gwen everything Natasha had experienced in the Red Room. As a woman, Gwen felt some of that pain herself and completely understood what Natasha was feeling.

“Every woman—every woman who longs for love and hopes for a complete family—deserves to be treated kindly.”

“Ye can’t give Natasha those things, but he can at least give her an encouraging hug.”

“Come on, Natasha!”

That was Gwen’s most innocent thought.

Seeing this, Su Ye could no longer hesitate. He placed his hands on Natasha’s shoulders and gently patted her a few times.

“Agent Romanoff... Ah, Natasha, you don’t have to thank me like this. All I did was bring back the virus sample. The people who truly developed the complete formula were the doctor and Gwen.”

“So if you want to thank anyone, thank them.”

Su Ye offered a word of comfort, but Natasha only hugged him tighter.

At that moment, Su Ye seemed to hear Durant roaring somewhere nearby.

Speaking of Durant, Su Ye was actually quite good at basketball himself.

Under different circumstances, he would not have minded showing off his polished skills.

He could attack with the ball, charge into enemy territory alone, and use speed and technique to break through a tight defense.

In that regard, Su Ye was extremely confident. Everyone who had played against him or challenged him one-on-one had been thoroughly convinced of his superiority.

Over the course of a game, whether attacking or defending, hardly anyone could stand against him.

Unfortunately, his friends on the court had never been very united. They had refused to join forces and surround him with a coordinated defense.

That had been a genuine disappointment.

Otherwise, Su Ye would definitely have shown them that basketball could be a one-man sport.

Forget one against five. Even if all his teammates were replaced with members of the opposing team and he had to play one against nine, he still would not have been afraid.

However, Gwen was standing right there. Natasha could ignore the occasion and cry in Su Ye’s arms, but Su Ye could not let her keep holding him forever. It would not look very good.

Natasha also knew that Gwen was Su Ye’s official girlfriend. She had already gone too far in front of Gwen, so she gently released him.

Yet now that her body had been restored, Natasha was no longer the Black Widow she had once been. She finally possessed the confidence and courage to set out again in pursuit of the happiness she wanted.

And Su Ye was currently the happiness she wanted most—the only happiness she intended to pursue.

Still, stealing another woman’s man was a matter of patience. It had to be done like slowly simmering a frog. Gwen must not realize what was happening at a glance. Ideally, she would be the very last person to learn that they had broken up.

Besides, Natasha did not necessarily have to push Gwen aside.

After joining the Great Wall Guardians and spending so much time observing Su Ye with the professional instincts she had developed through years of spy training, Natasha had long since realized that this man was not simple.

For one thing, Sharon Carter was definitely more than an ordinary secretary.

Natasha was almost one hundred percent certain of that.

Only Gwen, that young girl who believed herself intelligent but was actually inexperienced and ignorant of the human heart, remained completely in the dark.

That was convenient. It gave Natasha an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

When it came to secret infiltration, Natasha was certain she could do an even better job than Sharon.

And compared with Sharon, Natasha’s legs might have been a little shorter, but she had other assets.

Men were all the same. By nature, they found it difficult to resist a woman’s charms.

When Natasha had crashed into Su Ye earlier, she had felt a trace of his desire for her.

That was enough.

After releasing Su Ye, Natasha turned and threw her arms around Gwen.

“Thank you, Gwen. Thank you! You have no idea what this means to me. Truly, thank you!”

Gwen immediately returned the embrace with equal warmth.

“Natasha, you don’t have to say anything else. I understand. I really do.”

As she spoke, tears appeared in Gwen’s eyes as well. Natasha’s experiences had touched the softest place in her heart. She had even called her “sister.”

The moment Natasha heard that, she seized the opportunity.

She loosened her hold on Gwen’s shoulders slightly and rose to look into her eyes.

“What did you just call me?”

Gwen blinked. “Sister. If you don’t like it, I can stop—”

“No! I like it!”

Natasha hugged Gwen tightly again, tears pouring from her eyes.

“I came out of the Red Room. I never had a family or any friends when I was young, but I always wanted a little sister. Thank you. You saved me, and you called me your sister. Thank you!”

Su Ye had watched the Black Widow movie in his previous life, so he knew Natasha’s background.

She had no real family, but she had once possessed a fake family, including a younger sister named Yelena whom she treated like her own sibling.

Therefore, although there was some genuine emotion in Natasha’s tears and words, most of it was probably an act.

This was what it meant to be a spy. Gwen had helped her, and she was still acting in front of her. Was that really appropriate?

Gwen thought it was perfectly appropriate. She hugged Natasha back.

“If you’re willing, then from now on you’ll be my sister, and I’ll be your family. I’ve been the older sister for so many years, and I’ve always wanted an older sister of my own.”

Watching the two women embrace and weep together in excitement, Su Ye felt that it would be better for him to leave first.

Too much melodrama could cause physical discomfort.

Just then, his phone rang. Sharon was calling.

“Boss, I’ve gotten some information out of the White Queen. You should come over and hear it yourself.”

After saying goodbye to Doctor Connors and Barton, Su Ye left the laboratory.

As the leader of the Great Wall Guardians, Su Ye had endless work every day. Everyone understood that, so Gwen said nothing and simply waved goodbye from a distance.

Soon after leaving, Su Ye arrived at the White Queen’s interrogation room.

When he entered, only Sharon was inside. The White Queen was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is that woman?”

Su Ye glanced around and asked.

Sharon was still wearing the standard S.H.I.E.L.D. jumpsuit—the same kind Maria Hill had worn in the first Avengers film. Its charm rating was effectively increased by ten points.

After being crashed into by Natasha, Su Ye was feeling somewhat stirred up, and he could not help taking another look.

The moment he entered, however, Sharon rose with a grave expression.

“Boss, I locked the White Queen up. I discovered a serious problem just now, and I had to report it to you personally as quickly as possible.”

“But before that, you should inspect the security of this interrogation room. This matter is extremely important. It must leave my mouth and enter your ears, and no one else can hear it.”

Sharon had never spoken to him with such seriousness before. Clearly, the problem was even more severe than he had imagined.

Su Ye immediately put away his frivolous mood and prepared himself for the worst.

He activated telepathy and magnetic-field manipulation at the same time. Soon, the entire interrogation room was isolated both mentally and physically.

“Tell me. What exactly did you discover?” Su Ye asked in a deep voice.

He had seen the X-Men films and remembered the plots of both timelines clearly.

The White Queen’s story had only been shown in First Class. By the next film, Days of Future Past, she had already been written out and listed as dead in the records.

Apparently, it had something to do with the actress’s schedule.

Su Ye was not entirely sure. In any case, judging from Magneto’s deliberate effort to break her out of prison and recruit her in the post-credit scene of First Class, the original plan had clearly not been to dispose of her so quickly.

So what secret did the White Queen possess that Su Ye did not know about?

Was it related to the Black King?

The Black King had lived for so many years. He owned yachts and submarines and enjoyed every luxury money could buy. Could it be that he had buried treasure somewhere along the legendary Grand Line?

Or was the secret connected to the White Queen’s own origins?

As he watched Sharon’s solemn expression, Su Ye could not help forming all kinds of theories.

Then Sharon looked around once more. Only after confirming that no one was nearby did she lean toward him and whisper into his ear.

“I’ve been restored.”

“What?”

Su Ye’s mind stalled for a moment.

Wasn’t she supposed to be telling him about the White Queen’s secret? What did she mean by suddenly saying that she had been restored?

Sharon’s face flushed slightly.

“I mean I’ve been restored. Restored completely. I’m talking about the word in ‘restoration,’ not the word in ‘first arrival.’”

One word apart, yet worlds away in meaning.

Su Ye instantly felt a bolt of lightning shoot down his back and strike his lower spine with merciless force.

“Is this the effect of the Extremis?”

After the brief numbness in his lower back faded, Su Ye quickly understood the key point.

Extremis could heal a person’s injuries. It could restore severed limbs and even regrow removed organs.

In that case, did that indescribable membrane count as an organ?

According to encyclopedic explanations, it was a hygienic protective measure that had evolved to protect the female human body from bacterial infection. It was also a barrier that tested the ability of the one attempting to enter.

Anyone unable to break through the barrier was unworthy of leaving descendants.

In sociology, however, it had been given countless special meanings and had become the object of many people’s hopes and obsessions.

In ancient times, a woman without it might even be despised by her husband’s family and beaten out of the house.

In modern medicine, where technology had advanced considerably, it was supposedly possible to restore it through surgery.

Su Ye had never looked into the matter, but he immediately thought of another selling point for Extremis.

One injection could not only restore bodily injuries, but also save people a medical fee while allowing them to relive—no, allowing many people to experience for the first time—a journey through the barrier.

Could that count as a meritorious act of helping people fulfill their dreams?

Sharon nodded. “It’s the effect of Extremis. And I was injected with the experimental formula, whose restorative effect isn’t limited to a single use.”

“Hiss!”

Hearing this, Su Ye drew in another sharp breath.

In the past, he had only considered the experimental Extremis useful for turning people into super-soldiers. It allowed them to fight without fear of sacrifice. Even if they suffered severe injuries, as long as a skeleton remained, they could recover completely.

He had never considered that it was also a powerful substance capable of restoring someone again and again.

Fortunately, Su Ye was an upright man with no particular obsession regarding this matter. He merely wanted to discuss several professional questions with Sharon from an academic perspective.

For example, was the restored barrier functionally identical to the original?

If it was an organ or tissue that protected the body, would repeated damage cause it to become stronger during the restoration process?

And when the barrier was broken, would the body’s tolerance for pain gradually increase as the number of repetitions rose?

These were all highly professional academic questions. If the results of their discussion were leaked, they might have a significant impact on society and cause considerable upheaval.

Therefore, Sharon had been entirely correct to ask Su Ye to seal the interrogation room.

That way, they could maintain complete confidentiality throughout their discussion.

One full day and night later, Su Ye finally walked out of the interrogation room.

Sharon remained behind to organize the equipment, record the discussion and experimental data, and, most importantly, rest.

Even with a body modified by Extremis, Sharon still experienced physical and mental fatigue.

Now that he was temporarily free, Su Ye began making plans for his trip to Mount Myoboku.

With the system’s assistance, he could learn ninjutsu and senjutsu quickly. But no matter how fast he learned, he still needed guidance. He could not simply imagine everything from nothing.

So a journey to Mount Myoboku was essential.

He would leave several shadow clones behind, however, disguised as ordinary underlings who could participate in the Great Wall Guardians’ construction and operations.

At the same time that Su Ye set off for Mount Myoboku, a new organization began to emerge in Los Angeles.

Its members called it Mad Chicken Cry, the full name being the Vanguard Technology Cult. Its slogan was: Technology Changes the Future.

The cult worshiped the God of Technology, a deity said to exist in the future.

Apart from beings like Odin—aliens who had appeared in ancient times, been mistaken for gods by primitive humans, and then continued to be worshiped—many so-called gods were nothing more than vague, artificially created images.

If others could invent a God of Heaven or a Lord of Truth who supposedly existed in the past, then Mad Chicken Cry could just as easily invent a God of Technology who existed in the future.

The future was uncertain, so the God of Technology did not exist?

No. In the eyes of the God of Technology, time was merely a line of coordinates. He could twist time at will and appear at any point along the timeline.

You thought the God of Technology existed only in the future? In truth, he could exist at any point in time.

He merely represented the future—the end of the universe.

As for anything existing at the same moment, whether black holes or the quantum realm, it was nothing but a passing cloud in his eyes.

See? This was how technology and religion were connected.

It was the classic Hollywood trick: use one unverified, fantastical hypothesis as the theoretical foundation for explaining an even more fantastical story.

Hollywood might be gone, but that method of deception had survived.

“We’ve made it sound this grand, and you can accept aliens and the quantum realm. Yet you dare reject the God of Technology?”

“Can’t understand timelines and quantum spaces? Then there must be something wrong with your intelligence!”

“Join early and benefit early. Join today and receive a free seven-day trial of the technological elixir ‘Water of the Future.’ Introduce one new member and receive an additional day’s supply. There’s no limit. What are you waiting for? Join now!”

“Everyone around us has joined. We’re all marching toward the future. Young people like you can’t possibly lack that much vision, can you?”

In his previous life, Su Ye had known people who had been tricked by financial fraudsters running illegal fund-raising schemes and Ponzi scams.

Those people might have been unreliable, and they might have deserved what they got, but their sales pitches were certainly worth studying.

Start with the elderly, recruit their relatives, then expand outward layer by layer, sweeping through one village and one town after another. Before long, a massive sales network would be established.

Then all one had to do was sit at home and wait for the money to roll in.

That method was perfectly suited to Aldrich Killian’s early efforts to open the market for Mad Chicken Cry.

Once the first batch of believers had been gathered, there would be no need to spend much effort maintaining them. The organization would grow like a snowball rolling downhill.

And that was exactly what happened.

The scientific elixir supplied by Mad Chicken Cry, the Water of the Future, was actually the single-use medical variant of Extremis. Its name sounded rather tacky, but its effects were undeniably excellent.

For people with physical disabilities, it could repair their bodies.

For those who were already healthy, it could make them even more perfect.

They could become taller, stronger, more muscular, more attractive, fairer-skinned, and more broad-minded.

In short, with the Water of the Future, everyone could become the most beautiful version of themselves they had ever imagined.

With the dual promotion of the doctrine and the Water of the Future, Mad Chicken Cry spread at a horrifying speed.

It seemed that even the nineteenth virus could not spread so quickly.

Within only a few days, countless people who had been caught in the explosions caused by the Joker and left disabled had returned to normal lives.

Ordinary people who had been bullied and ignored because of their looks or figures regained their confidence as well.

Even many nightclubs began offering “barrier-breaking journeys.”

The ideas that had once existed only in Su Ye’s mind were now becoming reality throughout Los Angeles through the efforts of Aldrich Killian and Mad Chicken Cry.

And during the early stages, everything was free.

Join Mad Chicken Cry and receive a free week of the Water of the Future. Recruit someone else, and receive an additional day for every person you bring in. There was no upper limit.

For quite some time, Los Angeles became the city with the highest happiness index in the entire United States.

There were no disabled people, no ugly men or women, and not even second-rate sewer dwellers.

Everyone was a dragon. Everyone had broken through the barrier.

The entire city seemed to be living in a paradise, enjoying a life of happiness found only in heaven.

Then, after more than ten days had passed, the first wave of Mad Chicken Cry members used up the free Water of the Future they had received.

That was when chaos finally emerged.

Mad Chicken Cry was not a charity, and the Water of the Future was not ordinary bottled water that could be pumped from a river and sold without processing.

Maintaining the organization required money. Producing the Water of the Future required money as well.

Therefore, subsequent supplies of the Water of the Future had to be purchased.

The price was not particularly high. One day’s dosage cost only ninety-nine dollars and ninety cents.

That price was not arbitrary. In Ultimate Iron Man, the corrupted Tony Stark sold Extremis 3.0 at exactly that price.

At ninety-nine dollars and ninety cents a day, a month cost less than three thousand dollars. In a major city with Los Angeles’s wage levels, that was not an entirely unaffordable expense.

However, after becoming accustomed to receiving the Water of the Future for free, people naturally felt dissatisfied when they were suddenly asked to pay for it.

Many of the users were also members of the lower classes with no stable income—gang members and other criminals, for example.

They could recruit people into Mad Chicken Cry, but they could not afford to pay ninety-nine dollars and ninety cents every day.

What were people supposed to do when they had no spending power but still wanted to enjoy a high-quality life?

Soon, a clown with a face covered in greasepaint showed them the way.

“No money? That’s fine. Either storm the factory producing the Water of the Future and drink it or bathe in it for the rest of your lives, or go find someone who does have money.”

The gang members tried the first option.

They gathered in large numbers and carried weapons.

But the headquarters of Mad Chicken Cry was guarded by forces comparable to the Great Wall Guardians. Its guards could be shot without dying. Even armed with guns, the gang members could not force their way inside.

In the end, they could only choose the second option.

Find rich people.

Rob them.

It was the fastest way to make money.

Once the first robbery began, all of Los Angeles fell into chaos.

Countless impoverished gang members, homeless people, and those without property joined the looting. Stores were emptied of goods and cash.

And not everyone was doing it for the Water of the Future. Many simply enjoyed the thrill of robbery.

Everyone else was stealing, so why should they be the only ones left out?

The “zero-dollar shopping” phenomenon began occurring throughout Los Angeles with increasing frequency. It grew more severe by the day and even showed signs of spreading to other cities.

Under normal circumstances, the Great Wall Guardians, located so close by, would have been the perfect force to dispatch and resolve the crisis.

But perhaps the earlier explosions had caused the American government to question the Guardians’ sincerity.

Or perhaps Alexander Pierce had sensed the Great Wall Guardians’ counter-infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and grown suspicious.

Whatever the reason, while Los Angeles had descended into complete chaos, the Great Wall Guardians stationed at Malibu Beach were bored out of their minds.

They were so idle that they were preparing to organize a group trip to Asgard.

The idea and invitation had come from Thor.

During his time on Earth, he had become extremely familiar with the members of the Great Wall Guardians.

Earth had been relatively peaceful lately—peaceful in the broad sense, at least. The small disturbances caused by Aldrich Killian and Mad Chicken Cry were not serious enough to require the intervention of superheroes.

At the same time, news had arrived from Odin.

Because of Loki, the Bifrost had previously been destroyed, causing chaos and unrest throughout the Nine Realms.

As the future king of Asgard, Thor needed to return and lead Asgard’s army in suppressing the disturbances across the Nine Realms.

“If none of you have anything important to do, you can come with me,” Thor said with a foolish grin as he invited the others. “I’ve enjoyed fighting alongside all of you, and I imagine you feel the same.”

“Besides, Asgard won’t make you work for free. We can provide payment, and you’ll be able to tour and visit the Golden City without charge. You can also experience the customs and landscapes of the Nine Realms.”

“But most importantly, we can fight together again, as comrades-in-arms. That’s what matters in the end, isn’t it?”

After Thor finished speaking, everyone showed some interest—but not because of their feelings of comradeship.

Some were attracted by the promised payment. Some wanted to travel and sightsee. Some wished to study the culture and geography of the Nine Realms. Others were simply interested in Asgardian technology.

In any case, not long after Thor finished speaking, an expeditionary force of more than ten Great Wall Guardians had been assembled.

Nearly the entire organization mobilized.

Natasha, whose body had been restored, was included. Barton, who remained an ordinary human, was included. Even Bruce Banner, who had not transformed again, joined them.

Earth was temporarily “safe,” after all.

Everyone could simply go out and enjoy themselves.