Chapter 159: Grasping the Future of Humanity (Part 2)

"Boss, Mr. Johnson's serum has a very unique formula. I believe it can help us recreate Dr. Erskine's formula."

Seeing Old Wang arrive, Simmons' face flushed with excitement. She clenched her small fists and blinked her big eyes. "I feel like I'm a step closer to the truth!"

"Congratulations, Simmons."

Old Wang praised with a smile, "I've decided to give you a huge reward."

"Ah? This is all just part of my job. Achieving scientific breakthroughs is the greatest reward for me. Of course, winning a Nobel Prize would be even better—that's my ultimate dream."

Simmons asked, "Boss... what kind of reward are you planning to give me?"

"A reward worth billions of dollars." Old Wang waved his hand, and nearly a ton of plants filled half the laboratory.

Looking at the flowers and plants before her and smelling the strange odors, Simmons was dazed. "Boss, are you planning to change careers and open a flower and bird market? Where are the birds?"

She looked around, but truly saw no birds. Forget large birds, not even the smallest bird was in sight.

"This is Silverleaf."

"This is Peacebloom."

"This is Mageroyal and Earthroot."

"This is Kadgar's Whisker, Arthas' Tears, and Gromblood."

"This is King's Rage... I named it that. Eating it raw causes your body hair to grow rapidly, reaching about a meter in length. When brewed into a potion, it cures baldness, and the effect is better than any hair growth tonic on the market."

"This is Grave Moss, Sorrowmoss, and Dreamfoil."

"This is..."

Old Wang introduced over a hundred World of Warcraft-themed herbs one by one, then said with a hint of puzzlement, "You want birds? Fine, I have all sorts of birds here, big and small. Though living ones won't do; they can only be dead."

He waved his hand again, and dozens of bird carcasses filled the other half of the laboratory.

"This is a Moonkin. You can call it 'Boomkin' or 'Munchkin'. Very cute, right? Actually, they're quite fierce when alive; they only get quiet when dead."

"This is a White Riding Hawkstrider. You can call it 'White Chicken'. Not very easy to ride."

"This is a raven, a descendant of the 'Raven God Anzu'. It's very fast."

"This is a Blazing Firehawk, a descendant of the 'Sun God Rukhmar', carrying its own elemental and solar fire."

"This is..."

After introducing them one by one, Old Wang said, "Take your time studying them. These plants and animals are extremely unique and might help you with your research on the Super Soldier Serum. I hope the Super Soldier Serum you develop completely surpasses Dr. Erskine's version... Captain America? Far too weak."

You're the only one daring to call Captain America weak, besides Mr. Stark and you, Boss... Simmons didn't know what to say.

Where on earth did so many unprecedented plants and animals come from?

Could it be the legendary K'un-Lun?

She squatted down and touched the Moonkin, discovering that it seemed to have been dead for a long time, its corpse already stiff and cold. She felt somewhat disappointed.

For scientific research, the fresher the corpse, the better. She would have preferred a soft, large bird rather than a rigid one.

"Give priority to solving Cal's problem—the physical aspect," Old Wang said.

Simmons let out an "mmh."

The mental aspect could be resolved directly by modifying memories, but the physical aspect had to be tackled on her own.

This wasn't too difficult; it was quite manageable.

Studying these inexplicable plants and animals was what was truly hard!

Over a hundred plants and dozens of bird species—even for just the most basic research, it would probably take months or even a year, not to mention detailed assays and analysis. Who knows, it might take a lifetime of study.

Then a lifetime it is! Simmons clenched her fists to pump herself up, her entire body brimming with drive.

"If it's not enough, just let me know, and I'll get you a few thousand more kinds," Old Wang added with a hint of regret.

This room was still too small. He had barely brought over a tiny fraction, and it was already out of space—less than one percent of Azeroth's native creatures, not even including those more famous and powerful beings.

Of course, there was no need to bring everything over at once; he could just exchange for them when needed.

Simmons: "..."

I thought this was all of it. You mean there's more?

She was like a deflated balloon. The thought of thousands of flora and fauna weighing down on her shoulders, waiting for her to study them, filled her heart with despair.

Boss, that scientist you mentioned—when on earth is he going to get here?

"Right, this one should work even better."

Old Wang thought for a moment, exchanged for a red whelp carcass, and tossed it in front of Simmons.

Red dragons were dragons of life with formidable physiques; Old Wang was well aware of this.

Since it represented "life," its blood and tissue cells should be of high research value, and they would definitely be useful for a Super Soldier Serum primarily designed to enhance physical fitness.

"This is... a dragon?" Simmons swallowed hard instinctively.

Before, it was an Eastern dragon; now, it was a Western dragon.

Boss, isn't K'un-Lun supposed to be Eastern? How do you even have a Western dragon?

"Combine East and West for better results."

Old Wang tapped the red whelp's carcass. "The skeletal remains of an immortal dragon, the tissues and blood of a red dragon—combining these two legendary creatures should elevate the Super Soldier Serum to a whole new level. Simmons, you can consider developing different versions of the Super Soldier Serum, granting different abilities upon use."

The Celestials created the Eternals and the Mutants; the Kree created the Inhumans. All of these were enhancements to the human body and directions for human evolution—except that the Eternals were relatively stable, while Mutants and Inhumans lacked stability—

Yet because of that instability, there were more possibilities.

The Super Soldier Serum was undoubtedly also research into human physical enhancement, shortening the time required for evolution.

The gap between humans and those renowned races in the universe, such as the Kree or the Asgardians, was enormous—a gap of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years. Perhaps it could be shortened through scientific methods.

This small laboratory and this young scientist represented the future of humanity.

And this future was held right in her own hands.

Simmons: "..."

Boss, either you've gone crazy, or I have!

"Keep up the good work. You can do it."

Old Wang spoke without feeling any back pain, placing high hopes on Simmons.

He had to have high hopes.

The variety of flora and fauna in World of Warcraft was clearly much greater than that of metallic elements, and far more precious.

Although he had only exchanged for a little over a hundred species, with just one of each, it still cost nearly 5 grams of Azerite, valued at 50 billion dollars—50 times Fitz's budget.

The red whelp carcass alone cost nearly 1 gram of Azerite. Flesh and blood were truly much more expensive than bare bones.

With such a high investment, if there weren't even a tiny bit of return, he would really be at a massive loss.

After wrapping everything up, Old Wang returned to the physics and engineering laboratory to keep an eye on Cal personally.

Seven hours later, Cal's brain mapping was complete, followed by the much more troublesome memory modification.

Because it was delicate technical work, it required more time.

The Winter Soldier only needed a tiny memory tweak to make him feel favorably toward Old Wang, which was simple. But Cal required the modification of twenty years' worth of memories and the clearing of all psychological hazards, which was much more difficult.

Twenty years of memories, even just a portion of them, could take an extremely long time, giving Fitz a massive headache.

Old Wang had a way, though. He told Fitz to simply delete most of the painful memories and disguise them as sleep. Although the brain's consciousness was still active, there wouldn't be much of an impression left, right?

The workload instantly dropped by 99%.

By the afternoon of the next day, Old Wang was drinking tea when he suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Inside the virtual helmet, Cal opened his eyes.