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章節 3885: 302

Under Peter's intermittent narrative, Tim roughly understood what was going on.

The issue wasn't complex, mainly during the team preparation in Battleworld, Xu Shang-Chi had actually complained to Shiller, expressing his frustrations with his counterparts and fearing that he might lose his patience and dispose of them all someday.

Shiller wanted to transfer him to S.H.I.E.L.D., but it wasn't easy to accomplish, primarily because Xu Shang-Chi had already obtained American citizenship, an event that occurred before he crossed over which was now irreversible. Additionally, SWORD isn't as leaky as S.H.I.E.L.D.; they maintain strict control, generally only recruiting nationals.

Even though Xu Shang-Chi was outstanding, he was still an outsider. Proposing to stuff a foreigner into their special agent organization was indeed somewhat inappropriate.

Even considering using a backdoor required some sincerity. Shiller researched and found that there were not many troubles SWORD couldn't handle; The Ten Commandments were one, but after deepening cooperation with Kamar-Taj, these borderland thieves couldn't jump around much longer.

While investigating The Ten Commandments, Shiller suddenly remembered a very special existence that had been out of sight, the extraordinary dragon.

This character was actually an embodiment of the terrible stereotypes Americans held against Asians, originally from a comic just as disgusting as "Shang-Chi." This creature was also quite ugly, having almost no relation to Chinese dragons but closer to a Western giant lizard, with long hands, long legs, and a body covered in emerald green.

Shiller made some indirect inquiries and discovered that this guy had caused quite a few problems before, which also gave SWORD a headache.

The main headache was, you can't say it's not a dragon because it does look a bit like one. Every time it appeared, a bunch of fools would think it was the divine dragon descending, making the SWORD agents fighting the extraordinary dragon into villains provoking the divine dragon.

Especially now that the internet was widespread, this damned evil dragon had even learned to manipulate public opinion. It developed something called the Divine Dragon Sect in Hong Kong, attracting many believers and creating a large fuss which immensely frustrated the higher-ups.

However, under the relentless pursuit of the ruthless and tough as a stone SWORD, the extraordinary dragon soon lost its arrogance. But the trouble lay in the fact that this creature could transform, taking on different human forms at any time, which made it genuinely hard to identify normally.

SWORD conducted a vigorous search for several months, but they could not devote all their energy to this alone. After dealing with the heresy, they didn't continue their pursuit.

Actually, many at SWORD were still worried about it, as it could at any time deceive a bunch of fools, inadvertently increasing the workload for SWORD substantially.

Having identified this pain point, Shiller volunteered and discussed with the director of SWORD, attempting to devise a plan to lure this creature out.

Xu Shang-Chi was busy in Hong Kong for several months, and with the help of various friends, he finally got a lead; the evil dragon had transformed into a chef and was doing quite well in various restaurants.

But since this was essentially its stronghold, and the area was heavily populated, acting here could unwittingly harm the people and economy. At that moment, Shiller thought of devising a series of plans to trick the chef, who was the transformed extraordinary dragon, into coming to America to be dealt with.

However, unbeknownst to him, America already had people who had been unclearly connected with the Divine Dragon Sect, led by the owner of this farm, Deegan.

His primary interest in the Divine Dragon Sect stemmed from his enthusiasm for human modification, as the sect's believers had shown great strength in their battles with SWORD agents, despite being ordinary people just months before.

Being able to own a farm on the West Coast, Deegan certainly had a background. His father had made a fortune selling drugs during the war, and Deegan Pharmaceuticals had now grown to be the second-largest pharmaceutical company on the West Coast, monopolizing nearly all of the biological agents industry.

Following this lead, Deegan discovered that the followers of the Divine Dragon Sect had been using something called the Dragon Blood Potion, so he suspected that the sect had a real dragon, which allowed them to use its blood to enhance themselves.

Just like how the Hand Union had wanted to find the Dragon bone, Deegan also set his sights on the Dragon Blood. He conducted a series of investigations, even obtaining samples of the Dragon Blood Potion, and found it to be miraculous. To use an Eastern expression, it's highly nourishing, significantly enhancing human physical qualities with virtually no side effects.

Moreover, whether for ordinary people or genetically modified individuals like Captain America, this potion had room for improvement in durability, explosive strength, and resistance to physical impacts, and the enhancement was permanent.

The process to create this potion was also not complicated, just heating the Dragon Blood and injecting it into the body. After research by Deegan, it was even found that drinking it directly worked, with the most significant effect of enhancement noticeable in ordinary people—it was simply a magic bullet for manufacturing Super Soldiers on a large scale.

So, Deegan started to make contact with people from the Divine Dragon Sect, and the extraordinary dragon, transformed into a chef and still being pursued by SWORD, lacked an opportunity to leave its homeland. After meeting Deegan, the two struck a deal immediately and began their sinister collaboration.

It was unsurprising that the information Deegan investigated eventually benefited Shiller. Through the network of Arkham Sanatorium, Shiller quickly found out what was going on.

Ironically, Deegan also knew his way around things; he did not rush into human modification projects like the military might with some obtained potion. He made a bold decision, to turn the Dragon Blood health products into a brand of Eternal Life Factor.

The grandeur of Shiller's previous Eternal Life Factor enterprise hardly needs mention. Seeing the same potential in Dragon Blood, Deegan organized this banquet, imitating Shiller's initial setup of Arkham Sanatorium, starting with small-scale promotions in high-end circles to draw investments, and then expanding the scale.

Nobody could say it was useless, it naturally was useful, especially since Dragon Blood truly was beneficial.

After learning this news, Shiller conducted further investigations since this evil dragon didn't seem too intelligent. Indeed, after several visits to Hong Kong, Shiller obtained organizational samples from the extraordinary dragon.

Following joint analysis by the Shield Bureau Laboratory and Stark Laboratory, they discovered that not only was the Dragon Blood useful, this creature was a treasure all over its body, offering life-extending benefits.

This perfectly met Shiller's needs during this phase. Let's not forget, Shiller, after acquiring his own body, besides the magical personality traits divided into energy, everyone else had to start from scratch to self-sustain.

Greed knew better than anyone that his greatest asset was actually the Gray Mist, the magical symbiont that provided him the boost he needed to perform daring acts whether he was outmatched in a fight or trying to evade capture, never suffering severe injuries or spending most of his time recuperating.

Thus, the first thing Greed did when he acquired a new body was to contemplate strengthening his physique. He considered the genetically modified potions used by Captain America, even those used by Nick, and had even inquired Natasha about her transformation process, but after research, he found them either irreplicable or unreliable.

The extraordinary dragon, unfortunately, found itself in the crosshairs.

Upon learning about the arrival of children from another universe, Shiller decided to make full use of their abilities, grasping the opportunity firmly like squeezing urine from a frog.

Pamela played a key role because Shiller needed someone to disrupt the banquet. During his investigation trip to Hong Kong, Shiller found that the extraordinary dragon, though a chef, was quite competent and suffered from common chefs' foibles—unable to tolerate disrespect towards his culinary creations. Using cabbage to create a disruption was sure to infuriate him.

Jason was tasked with keeping Captain America busy; the reason he kept Captain America in the dark was that the extraordinary dragon was an alien, and Captain America was responsible for interstellar diplomacy. Had Captain America hesitated for the sake of interstellar diplomacy, the plan to kill the dragon would have been much harder.

Beyond that, most others were used to distract Tim's attention, with no other purpose than to teach him a lesson. Smart as he was, simplicity in strength did not mean he was unimpeachable.

Indeed, the lesson was brutally painful for Tim, for when his sight returned, he found the leg of that evil dragon erected in the center of the farm, with Pamela scraping meat off it. The delicious aroma was emanating from the roasted dragon meat.

Once the meat was cooked, Harley was the first to eat. She gobbled up a steak in three bites and performed a jaw-dropping feat, retaining tremendous strength even after digestion—now, one punch from her could nearly kill ten Tims.

Barry also consumed a large piece; his physique remained unchanged, nor did it affect his speed, but his strength soared massively, now fitter, faster, and stronger, almost defying the laws of physics.

Even after Captain America ate two steaks, he could throw his shield farther, and Jason's strength grew explosively. If not for Shiller's intervention, he might have lifted the house.

The effects were strongest within the first few minutes of eating the dragon meat, retaining about two-thirds of the strength after digestion, which was still remarkable.

But Tim got none.

Mainly because he was immobile now, and while everyone else helped themselves, no one planned to share with him—even Shiller mockingly waved the dish under his nose.

Tim took a deep breath, knowing he was done for.

"Name your price," he said.

Lying down for slaughter made his heart bleed.

"Five million for a piece of meat."

"Why don't you just rob me?!"

"I am robbing you. Are you paying or not?"

While Tim bargained with Shiller on this side, Pamela was discussing food matters with Harley on the other.

With Shiller's help, Harley performed a mutant power overload in front of a popular lawyer's camera, and Professor X even pretended to be shocked, urging Harley to remain calm in all mutants' minds, thereby confirming her identity as a mutant.

Thanks to New Xanadu Country, the development plan of the Andromeda was more smoothly executed than before, with the help of an unnamed Eastern Great Nation allowing them not only to be self-sufficient but also to have a surplus of food.

Pamela, remembering what Natasha had once mentioned about exchanging hard assets for money, teamed up with Harley to transport the excess food produced in the Andromeda Galaxy to Mexico. First, open a teleportation portal in Mexico, transport the food to Battleworld, then open their universe's Mexico portal in Battleworld, transport the food to the Mexico of the DC Universe, and then via a submarine tunnel to Metropolis, where the Luther Group would consume as much as it could handle.

Though the transportation process might seem complicated and costly, in reality, if it's just about transporting goods, Magneto can open a wormhole from the Andromeda Galaxy to Mexico, and opening a teleportation portal in Battleworld incurs no costs, merely taking some time. In fact, there's hardly any logistics cost.

Jason and Barry didn't do much and yet gained immense strength, Dick and Raven had a smooth trip, enjoying themselves thoroughly. With Shiller's help, Harley firmly established her position within the mutant community, becoming a powerful economic brain of this mighty weapon. Pamela earned quite a bit of money, at least no longer worried about her mortgage.

The only one was Tim, who was left battered, bloodied, and only learned a painful lesson despite his meticulous planning.

Fortunately, he eventually got to eat the dragon meat. As Tim chewed vigorously, he contemplated how carefree his previous life had been. From today onwards, he must concentrate on his training, never again to be a fragile mage.

What he did not realize was that he was starting to follow a path similar to Batman, combining supreme intelligence, physical sturdiness, and an unyielding will—pursuing a complete and invincible form.

But perhaps, his stage was grander than Batman's, and he might tread a path even brighter and more glorious than that of Batman.


next chapter

章節 3886: Chapter 3003: Dense Green Trees and Long Summer Days (1)

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What is summer like in Gotham City?

In the past, people would say that a summer day in Gotham was like a rain that threatened to fall but never did, with heavy dark clouds always looming so low that the sound of thunder seemed like a beast passing through the layers of clouds, and the gloomy and humid alleys hid countless dangers unknown to man.

But now, in this city that has found its sunshine again, summer is hot and prolonged. The heat waves roll during daylight, cicadas become too lethargic to make a sound, and the calling of seagulls halts as they perch on the doorsteps of cafes, their voices hoarse. Leather shoes walk over melting asphalt roads, pulling out threads of shiny strings, and hurried pedestrians shade their heads with newspapers, not daring to stay under the sun for a moment.

Since May, Gotham has grown increasingly hotter. When the temperature hit 30 degrees, people could still rely on cooling devices to get by, but as the temperature closed in on 40 degrees, there were not many brave enough to step outside.

Logically speaking, a coastal city like this should not get so hot, especially since Gotham is surrounded by sea on three sides, and its climate should be better than Metropolis.

Yet this city has taken modernization to another extreme. Since there was no sunshine, skyscrapers could be built as tall as possible, reflective glass as bright as could be, with reinforced concrete structures heavily utilized, and asphalt roads prolifically constructed.

As is widely known, the urban heat island effect occurs under such circumstances, and these things were entirely fine when there was no sunlight.

But now, with the clouds dispersed and the sunshine returning, the entire city is like an iron sheet scorching under the unforgiving sun.

Back when Gotham was encased in ice, the city was considered a summer retreat. But as the Dense Ice Technology advanced iteration after iteration, the dense ice used in Gotham's underground cold storage no longer provided coldness and almost didn't participate in heat exchange, naturally losing its cooling effect.

With favorable conditions all around, the city has become hotter and hotter.

The people of Gotham have faced many disasters in their lifetimes, capturing a few demons only to encounter a few monsters; the city had just started to see the light of day again and was almost cooked alive in the increasingly hot summers.

Shiller was incredibly relieved to have moved into his new home.

The West District had been transformed into an industrial zone, and industrial activities are one of the culprits of the urban heat island effect. With temperatures around 40 degrees there, staying any longer would have eventually led to death by heat.

His new home, however, had many advantages. Behind it was a large lake, bordered by a forest, with streams flowing further down the lake, surrounded by all grass and trees—the greenery and water bodies are things that can help reduce the heat conduction effect.

Even so, Shiller's psychological defenses crumbled the moment he saw the thermometer display a reading of 36 degrees in the morning.

The last time he saw such high temperatures was in his previous life—if he remembered correctly, it should have been in Chongqing.

In a way, there are similarities between the two cities, especially after Gotham's situation improved. Shiller carefully examined a map and found that Gotham and Chongqing did indeed look very similar now.

Not to mention anything else, but Chongqing is where two rivers converge, a city of a million bridges, and Gotham too has the confluence of two rivers, the Hudson and Gotham River, right in the center of the city, with countless bridges over both rivers, thus splitting the city into East and West.

The difference is that Gotham's terrain is flatter, lacking the many hills and ravines. Naturally, it doesn't have the same magical feel, but Bruce's transformation project turned this place into a true 8D city. Shiller himself couldn't even find his way out of the East District, let alone rely on navigation.

Unfortunately, as the saying goes, bad habits are learned more quickly than good ones. While Gotham's city center managed to maintain around 35 degrees for a couple of years, now even the suburbs are heading towards 40 degrees. The Gothamites call it "East Coast Little Chongqing."

Normally, if one wanted to regulate the temperature, they could bring back the dark clouds, but Bruce is no longer Batman, and the Gotham curse maintained for Batman's existence no longer exists. The dark clouds have become thinner by the day and can no longer serve as a cover.

Shiller stood in front of the thermometer for ten minutes.

In fact, this is a very difficult problem to solve. It can't just be fixed by bringing back Pamela to plant trees everywhere, as Gotham's urban construction is already very saturated. Where can trees be planted?

For example, the road in front of Shiller's house has four lanes and usually doesn't get congested, but the premises are that the road has no greenery in the middle or on the sides—it is just a blunt road with no sidewalks.

If greening were to be done, first, the four lanes would have to be reduced to two to make space for sidewalks, and then between the sidewalks and vehicle lanes, green lawns and trees could be planted.

This particular road could be transformed without issues because this area isn't densely populated, but Gotham already has a significant traffic problem. Even with the wool Bruce shorn from dark energy, the city is barely maintaining. In such a situation, isn't it a joke to talk about greening?

Many cities in Europe and America face this problem. Their city construction happened too early, when there were not as many cars and tall buildings, and a two-lane road was completely sufficient.

Even in some of the older European cities, there are no asphalt roads to speak of—just cobblestone roads for shared vehicular and pedestrian use, and the traffic rules are entirely up to mood.

It's not that all governments don't want to manage, but that there's simply no way to. If you want to alter a road, then houses have to move back. If you move the houses, you squeeze other roads, leaving no space. You can't keep pushing everything back layer by layer, flattening the whole city like a pancake.

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Things were even more troublesome in Gotham City, where the architecture wasn't like the small European-style houses in the city centers of many European countries. Since construction started later, even the oldest parts of Gotham Cathedral were tall buildings, making demolition even more complicated.

Of course, besides road greenery, parks, nature reserves, and reservoirs could be built, but it's clear the city was only starting to recover. People had just begun to climb out of the mire and were not yet at a point where environmental considerations could take precedence. Good locations needed to meet residential demands first, followed by the building of associated facilities and meeting commercial and industrial growth.

And each one of these facilities that could help address environmental issues was enormous, and no one was willing to sacrifice so much land.

Even the construction of parks was a nuanced affair. Many envied Central Park in New York, but it actually served as a counterexample of urban development. Excessive centralization of green space neither positively affected the urban environment nor allowed more than a handful of people to enjoy urban green areas, even if the park was well-built, it defied the principles of urban environmental construction.

But if Gotham were to build many separated parks, the issue was not just land but also funding, which was even harder to come by. The city government, currently in the midst of a great depression, had the will but not the means.

However, seeing the temperature rising day by day and the endless stream of heatstroke patients being admitted to the hospital, the prominent figures of Gotham could no longer stand idly by.

Standing in front of the thermometer, Shiller took out his phone just as the door opened, and Helen collapsed onto the living room sofa.

"Why can it be so hot? Why can the weather be so hot?!!" Helen wailed.

Shiller glanced back at her and said, "The air conditioning is already at its lowest. If you're still hot, go grab some ice cubes from the fridge."

Helen didn't move. If Shiller didn't know she was Doomsday, he would have thought she had died from the heat.

Remembering that she was Doomsday, Shiller asked with some confusion, "Aren't you able to consume the sun? Why do you feel hot?"

"That's different. I don't feel hot when I'm in my true form, but my current body is human. My temperature regulation system is the same as yours, so of course, I feel hot."

Helen sprang up from the sofa again and said, "We've checked out the forest, and it's indeed moist and cool. We're planning to build a treehouse there, what do you think?"

"Whatever," Shiller nodded. It wasn't that he didn't want to offer sincere advice, but he truly was powerless to assist.

The people from Marvel had been around for a while now. Jarvis and Wanda, the little couple with children, came and stayed in the manor of James Gordon in the North District.

After James and Barbara got back together, they quickly had a child, another girl, but it seemed James was wary of naming her Barbara, to avoid the fate of Barbarys from other universes, so he named her Jane Gordon instead.

Jane was older than Wanda's twin boys and could already run around. Wanda and Barbara shared parenting experiences, while Jarvis drove them out for outings.

The folks from the Guardians of the Galaxy could never sit still. They were old hands at the rough life. Arriving without a penny to their names, they soon found houses in the East District and fit in swimmingly.

The young superheroes from the New Warriors Team, essentially the group closest to rogue teenagers, turned up at Shiller's, and along with Helen, they caused him no end of trouble.

At first, when they discovered the lake behind Shiller's house, they wanted to fish, but due to poor skills, they never caught anything. Speedball Robert, the Little Smart Ghost, somehow got a hold of an electrified net and nearly exterminated the fish in the lake, leading to complaints from other neighbors, prompting Shiller to order them to release the fish back.

Shiller was hoping they could help tidy up the garden, but clearly, they weren't the type to put their backs into any work. They dug around wildly when excavating, hosed carelessly when watering, and played with the mud, making a messy mess everywhere, their havoc rivaling a pack of huskies.

Shiller had thought of driving them away, but his ordered gazebo had arrived. He had arranged for it to come with installation, but sadly received news that the installers were demanding a high heat surcharge, almost equivalent to the installation fee itself.

Shiller thought of finding another installation service, but after enquiring with several companies, all demanded a heat surcharge, each one costlier than the last, leaving him no choice. He then called Killer Croc, only to find out he had been hospitalized.

He should have foreseen it. Crocodiles are ectothermic, and which pet croc could endure moving house in 40-degree weather?

Zatanna, who invested in the moving company, and Gordon were busy looking after Killer Croc. Cobblepot was occupied with moving his mother to a cooler suburb. Mayor Roy was swamped with work. Even Scarecrow and Professor Pig had taken Federal Bureau of Investigation contracts to work in the colder weather of Metropolis.

After much consideration, Shiller decided not to waste free labor. He had the New Warriors Team members stay, and lately, they had been setting up the gazebo in an orderly fashion.

Assembling a gazebo wasn't complicated at all, and could be done in an afternoon, but the blistering heat from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. made work impossible. They could only rush the job at night, but even after five days, the small gazebo in the garden wasn't complete, and Shiller still had to cook for them daily.

Fortunately, due to the intense heat, serial killers largely stayed indoors. Gordon finally had some downtime and decided to visit Shiller as he was checking his backyard garden.

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