Chapter 158: Happiness Came Too Suddenly (Part 1)

Everything was prepared. The five fingers of the Hand were still lying dead in their coffin-like life-support pods, enjoying the pleasures of a high-tech version of mind-reading.

Although mapping a brain only required a helmet, the volume of memories belonging to these five individuals was simply too massive, and the process took far too long. Without life-support pods, what would happen if they starved to death before the brain mapping was even finished? Even a master of kung fu could not go half a month without food.

Most importantly, these people were not weak. If forced to wear the helmets while conscious, they would resist. They could only be kept in deep slumber inside the life-support pods, restrained by various devices to maintain a rare and precious peace.

Cal was not yet fifty years old, and his memory volume could not compare to Whitehall's or the Winter Soldier's. Half a day would suffice for him, and a simple helmet would do the job.

Jiying was perhaps more than five hundred years old—a textbook case of an older woman robbing the cradle. Even if her memory volume fell short of the five fingers, it was still far beyond that of an ordinary person. Naturally, she required VIP treatment.

Due to her life-draining superpower, no one dared to have direct skin contact with her, so old Wang had to place her into the life-support pod himself.

"Begin mapping."

Fitz pressed the start button. Looking at the estimated time displayed on the screen, he was completely stunned. "It's actually... even larger than Madame Gao's memory volume? Could she have lived for two thousand years?"

Glancing back at Cal, Fitz found it completely incomprehensible. Was such a large age gap really acceptable? What was wrong with this world?

"This is completely normal," old Wang said calmly.

Youth and memory volume were two entirely different things.

Because he was on familiar terms with numerous ancient beings who had lived for thousands or tens of thousands of years, old Wang had some understanding of long-lived species. He knew that as age increased, memory volume did not actually grow in a linear fashion; the rate of growth gradually declined.

This was because many memories were repetitive, and only valuable information was retained. The repetitive, invalid data would automatically be filtered and forgotten, making room for other memories.

The five fingers of the Hand had lived for millennia and had long since grown jaded to everything in the world, so the accumulation of their memories was not particularly vast. Moreover, each of them had died and been resurrected dozens of times, with gaps between each occurrence. Sometimes they lay dormant for years or even decades before revival, meaning their actual active memory volume was nowhere near a thousand years' worth.

Compared to them, Jiying was a blooming young maiden, yet she had only died once in her entire life. Consequently, her memory volume actually exceeded that of the five fingers.

"Uh... it will take about two weeks. As you know, memory is complex. We must complete the brain mapping before we can modify memories."

Fitz glanced outside at Gordon, who was constantly blinking in and out, and the crimson magic ribbons weaving back and forth. With a troubled look on his face, he said, "The laboratory has no food reserves, and there aren't enough beds..."

*I honestly didn't think of that...* Old Wang cast a strange look at Fitz.

Setting aside the fact that you're a scientist, why on earth is your first concern eating and sleeping? The crucial point is, with me around, should we ever worry about food and drink? More importantly, Gordon's physical constitution is no different from an ordinary person's; he has to eat and sleep too. What on earth are you panicking about?

"Gordon is being kept in check by the little red ribbons, so there's no need to worry. There are only a handful of gifted individuals in Afterlife anyway. Even if all of them show up, we have nothing to fear—Matt, Stick, and Elektra will handle them."

Old Wang tapped the life-support pod. "Take advantage of this time to focus on scientific research. Skye, there's nothing to worry about here. Go work on virtual technology; consider it a distraction."

"Alright." Skye knew that standing around staring at the pods wouldn't solve anything, and the longer she looked, the more worried she became. Furthermore, her father would wake up soon, and with him keeping watch, there would be nothing to fret over.

"Fitz, the primary research directions moving forward are quantum brains and novel materials."

Old Wang asked, "Is a quantum brain difficult? How long will it take to complete?"

"Uh... I don't know."

Fitz decided to tell the truth. "Brain mapping and memory uploading are actually things S.H.I.E.L.D. was already researching. They only count as cutting-edge technology, and we can at most stay twenty years ahead of the world. The 'Framework' is the future of virtual technology, which is immensely difficult and puts us fifty years ahead of the world. But a quantum brain? To be honest, no one is researching that right now. People don't even know how to begin researching it; it's merely a concept."

Fitz was distressed and plagued by a headache.

Some scientists believed that human consciousness actually existed in a quantum state. Of course, that was just an opinion held by a few; the majority remained skeptical and refused to consider "quantum consciousness" as true science, because it was completely untestable and amounted to nothing more than an unverified hypothesis.

Now, his boss was directly ordering him to research a quantum brain—a purely quantum-state brain!

This was far too futuristic. If he hadn't perused the relevant knowledge within the Darkhold, he would have thought his boss had lost his mind. Even with his level of expertise, he could only comprehend a tenth of that knowledge, while Lucy and the others were completely in the dark.

How was one supposed to research this?

Forget one month or one year; even if he were given ten years or a hundred years, he wouldn't dare guarantee he could crack it! This was simply not something humans were capable of achieving!

"Human potential is infinite, and human wisdom is boundless. Don't underestimate yourself, Fitz."

Old Wang spoon-fed Fitz a bowl of motivational chicken soup, then added, "Don't worry, I'll help you find an expert in this field—a truly top-tier scientist."

*You said the exact same thing to Simmons, and it's been two months. Where is she?* Fitz nodded heavily. "Boss, I believe you!"

After a pause, he tentatively asked, "As for that novel material..."

You never mentioned this before!

Aside from a tiny bit of secondary Adamantium left on hand, there is nothing else here. Even the Adamantium can only be tested; we can't even slice it. What do you expect me to research? Graphene or nanocomposites?

"It's not what you're thinking."

Old Wang said, "It's a new element you've never seen before, the kind that doesn't exist on Earth."

"Like Vibranium?" Fitz's eyes lit up. "I heard it's brought by a meteorite from outer space and has the property of absorbing energy?"

"That will be for you to research."

Old Wang spent a full 0.1 gram of Azeroth's Blood to trade in one go for a massive batch of rare materials unique to World of Warcraft, totaling a full ton. They were brightly colored and radiated a dense elemental aura.

"What are these?" Fitz searched his memory and found not a single one matched.

"The silver-white one is Mithril."

"The silver-blue one is Truesilver."

"Those two blocks over there are True Silver and Thorium."

"The one resembling your director is Black Iron."

"These few are quite precious: Arcanite, Manticore-infused Saronite Bars, and Elementium. Their value is comparable to Vibranium, so don't lose them."

"This is Kryptonite, and this is Hardened Element."

"And this is Elemental Flux; it can help melt the metals mentioned above. You might need it."

"These are physical elements: Eternal Earth, Eternal Fire, Eternal Water, Eternal Air, Eternal Life, and Eternal Shadow..."

"These are a bit inferior: Primal Elements and Elemental Essences."

"These are..."

Old Wang rattled off a long list of over a hundred materials, making Fitz's head spin.

*Boss, either you're an alien, or you've lost your mind—you're mentally ill!*

"Study them slowly. Classify these items as top-secret, especially the Eternal Elements, Elementium Bars, Saronite, Kryptonite, and Elemental Flux. Only the few of you are allowed to research them; those newly recruited rookies must never touch them."

Old Wang instructed, "I won't put pressure on you, just don't stay idle. Tell Skye whatever equipment you need; money is no object."

Fitz: "..."

Other scientists worried every day about having no research topics, and even if they had one, they couldn't secure funding. Look at him: his research topics were overflowing to the point of explosion, with over a hundred arriving all at once, and unlimited funds at his disposal.

For the first time, Fitz understood what it meant to be troubled by happiness.

Take a deep breath. Let a massive ocean of research topics drown him!

Old Wang turned and walked away, quickly arriving at the biochemistry laboratory.